After an injury-riddled season in which he featured in a measly 17 of 47 games in all competitions for his club Orlando Pirates, utility left-back Innocent Maela has spoken about the difficulties of shrugging off insecurities and his fear of setbacks.
Maela is in Morocco with Bafana Bafana, gearing up to face the Atlas Lions in the opening game of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers at Rabat's Moulay Abdellah Stadium on Thursday (9pm). Bafana's Group K consists of only three nations with Liberia the third team after Zimbabwe were disqualified by Fifa.
In September last year, Maela had surgery on an adductor longus injury, spending almost four months on the sidelines. The 29-year-old full-back, who can also play at centre-back, has opened up about the psychological after-effects of a long-term injury.
“Of course if you’ve been out for three, four months, it [the thought of relapsing] plays in your mind, so you have to really work on your mind after your rehab... to make sure you can trust your body and your abilities again,” Maela told the Safa media department.
“I am being cautious because I don’t want to go back to what happened before but I also don’t want to miss such opportunities because you’ll never know if you’ll get these opportunities again, so I am in that space right now but I am confident things will go well. Do I trust my body? Yes, but do I trust it to an extent where I can risk it? I am not sure.”
Maela also reflected on the daunting trip to Rabat. Bafana travelled to Morocco via Doha. The Pirates man said playing continental football with the Sea Robbers had accustomed him to such long trips.
“The trip was difficult. Fortunately, some of us are experienced in this because we play continental football with our clubs. The first trip was 10 hours and then we had to connect. We waited for another hour at the airport before we took another seven-hour trip to get to Morocco. But these things challenge and excite us... we want challenges so that we can grow and prove to ourselves that we can overcome hardships,” said Maela.
Injury woes won't stop Maela
Bucs man says he relishes chance to play for Bafana
Image: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
After an injury-riddled season in which he featured in a measly 17 of 47 games in all competitions for his club Orlando Pirates, utility left-back Innocent Maela has spoken about the difficulties of shrugging off insecurities and his fear of setbacks.
Maela is in Morocco with Bafana Bafana, gearing up to face the Atlas Lions in the opening game of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers at Rabat's Moulay Abdellah Stadium on Thursday (9pm). Bafana's Group K consists of only three nations with Liberia the third team after Zimbabwe were disqualified by Fifa.
In September last year, Maela had surgery on an adductor longus injury, spending almost four months on the sidelines. The 29-year-old full-back, who can also play at centre-back, has opened up about the psychological after-effects of a long-term injury.
“Of course if you’ve been out for three, four months, it [the thought of relapsing] plays in your mind, so you have to really work on your mind after your rehab... to make sure you can trust your body and your abilities again,” Maela told the Safa media department.
“I am being cautious because I don’t want to go back to what happened before but I also don’t want to miss such opportunities because you’ll never know if you’ll get these opportunities again, so I am in that space right now but I am confident things will go well. Do I trust my body? Yes, but do I trust it to an extent where I can risk it? I am not sure.”
Maela also reflected on the daunting trip to Rabat. Bafana travelled to Morocco via Doha. The Pirates man said playing continental football with the Sea Robbers had accustomed him to such long trips.
“The trip was difficult. Fortunately, some of us are experienced in this because we play continental football with our clubs. The first trip was 10 hours and then we had to connect. We waited for another hour at the airport before we took another seven-hour trip to get to Morocco. But these things challenge and excite us... we want challenges so that we can grow and prove to ourselves that we can overcome hardships,” said Maela.
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