‘I WANT OUT OF AS VITA’

PHOKENG – “Life in DR Congo is a living hell. I don’t want to return there, I just want to play my football elsewhere other than Congo.”

That’s the honest statement issued out by national team, Sihlangu attacking midfielder Felix Badenhorst in an exclusive interview with the Times Sports Desk after yesterday’s training session at the Royal Marang Hotel training pitch, the home of South Africa’s Premier Soccer League (PSL) outfit Platinum Stars.
In his most candid interview to-date, Badenhorst related how he had found life a living hell in the poverty-stricken country.
“I am not angry because I have not been playing regularly. That is not a problem with me because I have played many games, sometimes I am in and sometimes I sit on the bench.

But the life in Congo is not good for me. It’s unhealthy and I lived in fear all the time. Congo is just Congo,” he said with a frown on his face that was as serious as a heart attack.
Badenhorst made an example on how some of the Congolese people just walked into your room and helped themselves to your food without a care in the world.
“It came to a point where I just felt I should pack up and go home because my safety is not guaranteed.

I am not returning there. I told even the coach and team manager about this,” he added. Badenhorst stated that he had already submitted a formal request to have the DR Congo top side, AS Vita hand him a free clearance to join a team of his choice.
He made it clear that if there were no offers on the table for him, he wouldn’t be thinking twice about re-joining his former club, Mbabane Swallows.
“I have already spoken to Gamedze about coming back to Swallows and I am happy that his hands are open. If I don’t get any offers I will be back at Swallows in the new season. I think I still have more years in me to play football,” Badenhorst said.

Commenting on Sihlangu’s performance, Badenhorst said there was room for improvement and the loss against Zimbabwe on Sunday in the COSAFA Castle Cup quarter-final clash was just unfortunate.
“We started off badly and didn’t press them enough but in the second-half we played very well. It’s unfortunate we conceded a late goal to bow out of the tournament. The future looks bright considering we didn’t bring our best team here,” he said.
Badenhorst was last year’s tournament’s top goal scorer with five goals and on Sunday he scored Sihlangu’s lone goal in the 47th minute in the 2-1 loss to Zimbabwe’s Brave Warriors. 

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