Two loves in her life – football and cars

Eighteen years – that’s how long Mpumi Nyandeni has been with Banyana Banyana, but she almost didn’t get where she is today, having considered retiring due to injury.

She went through tough times after a fruitful couple of years playing in Russia for WFC Rossiyanka, whom she joined in 2011. Nyandeni, who has represented the senior national team at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, picked up a mysterious problem which caused her pain when she tried to run.

She went to see numerous doctors, but not a single one was able to diagnose the problem. It was believed she was faking it, so she decided to come home and leave everything behind. Shortly afterwards former Banyana head coach Vera Pauw rang her up.

“I got injured late in 2013, I came home but didn’t have proper rehabilitation. Then coach Vera heard I was back, so she called my team back in Russia and after that she called me and lashed out at me for not telling her I was injured and back home,” Nyandeni recalls.

“They (WFC Rossiyanka) didn’t believe I was injured because we went to see about nine or 10 different doctors, but they all couldn’t find out what was wrong. But I couldn’t run because it became very painful and I didn’t know what the problem was. Even now, I no longer run the same way I did.

“Coach Vera was patient with me, I did my rehab and returned to football. I thank her for giving me an opportunity to return to football because I had told myself my football career was over. I worked very hard and I was called up to the squad that played in the AWC (Women’s Africa Cup of Nations) in 2014.”

Looking back, Nyandeni was one of the first female players in the country to land a deal overseas. Going to Russia was one of the biggest achievements in her life and she admits it was very difficult, though she ended up winning two league titles and one domestic cup.

“It was difficult when I got to Russia because no one spoke English, it took me a couple of months to start learning the language and I was able to say Privet, kak ty

pozhivayesh’? (hello, how are you doing?),” said the midfielder.

“After a year, I started to adjust to the lifestyle over there and there was someone who could translate things for me because we had players from Brazil and other African countries coming in to join the club.

“As time went on, it became very nice and I had plenty of fans. I also coached a team of young kids in Moscow and they loved me very much.”

At 31, Nyandeni, who is currently in Ghana with the Banyana squad for the 2018 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations is a totally different person when she is not playing football.

She has a huge interest in cars and enjoys fixing them. With age no longer on her side, she was able to secure herself a job as a driver and says it’s important to have something you can turn to when your football career is over.

“When I’m not in the national team I am working. I work as a driver, so it’s all about cars and I love fixing cars.”