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| Sports |
| Coaches ignored me — Maduka |
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by
Garry Chirwa, 23 June 2004
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13:50:08
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Flames’ midfielder and former captain John Maduka has made it clear he will give his call-up for next weekend’s joint World Cup and Africa Nations Cup qualifier against Guinea a huge amount of thought after being given the cold shoulder in the recent games against Mozambique and Botswana.
The battle-scarred midfielder said in an interview from his Kwa Zulu Natal base in South Africa that the coaching panel turned its back on him after the Flames’ five-star display against Morocco’s Atlas Lions which ended in a one-all draw.
“I excused myself from the Morocco game because my club had a crucial league game against Supersport United, but I explained to Fam administrative officer Lawrence Waya that I would be available thereafter because we would have finished the season.
“Surprisingly, neither Fam nor the coaches made any efforts to get in touch with me to make arrangements for the Mozambique and Botswana games and my assumption was that they were satisfied with the team and that I was no longer part of the team.
“Now I hear that I am on the call-up list for the Guinea game and the impression I have is that they now need my services having lost to Mozambique and Botswana,” said the 34-year-old player, who is the longest serving member of the current Flames’ squad.
Maduka also accused coach John Kaputa of being economical with the truth.
“I was also surprised to learn from my brother that Mr Kaputa was quoted in the press as having said that he could not get me on my mobile phone as it went unanswered. That is a lie, if he had indeed tried to phone me, I would have known because the mobile phone automatically switches to the voice message.
“The impression which he created was that I snubbed the Botswana game when in fact I was not part of their plans. Fam or the coaches should not paint a bad picture of me. I love my country but it is such type of system that discourages players, it’s not fair at all,” said Maduka.
In a related development, another South African-based midfielder Peter Mgangira, who turns out for Jomo Cosmos has ruled himself out of the Guinea game due to what his locally-based manager Ben Chiwaya described as “personal problems.”
Mgangira also excused himself from the Cosafa Castle Cup game against Mozambique.
Chiwaya, who also manages Russian-based stocky forward Essau Kanyenda, also said the player is expected back in Russia by this Friday to join his team Rostov ahead of the second round of the Russian league which kicks off this Saturday.
“Rostov are expected to fly back to Russia from Finland this Friday and are expecting Essau to join them the same day. But should Fam still need his services for the Guinea game then they should make a fresh request in writing to Rostov.
“I do not think there will be any problem because the World Cup is on Fifa calendar but it depends on how soon they do that,” said Chiwaya.
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