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MBABANE – MTN Premier League current leading goalscorer Felix ‘Fela’ Badenhorst’s snub from Sihlangu is a topical issue beyond the country’s borders.
The Mbabane Swallows attacker, who is the all-time Council of Southern Africa Football Association (COSAFA) Cup leading scorer with nine goals, exclusively revealed to the biggest soccer publication in Africa, Soccer Laduma that as a player, one always looks forward to playing regularly and represent their country. He was interviewed by seasoned sports journalist Thomas ‘TK’ Kwanaite, who also happens to be the brain behind Media Mora. The latter helped Eswatini to launch a football show in South Africa’s pay-per-view channel SuperSport last year.
The former Mbombela United skipper was not part of the Sihlangu squad for the back-to-back TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (CAF) Qualifiers against Cape Verde last month.
Believed
His omission was not received well by some sectors of local football as they believed that he should have been in the squad, since he was the leading scorer with 17 goals in this campaign. In the interview, ‘Fela’ opened up to say that he had to be professional and respect the coach’s decision.
“He could be planning on a particular strategy or a different approach and consequently selected players that he strongly believes will implement the envisaged plans better,” Badenhorst was quoted on Soccer Laduma.
The lanky former Jomo Cosmos attacking midfielder said as a player one needed to be humble and accept that as no one was bigger than the game and that time would come to be called to the national team.
“The only thing that you need to do is to keep working harder and also double your efforts. That is the only way to keep knocking on the coach’s door and remind him that you are here and could also contribute,” the former AS Vita player explained.
Badenhorst further said it was painful to lose against Cape Verde in the second match played at Mbombela Stadium after playing a draw away.