‘BULL’ STAR ‘RIO’ AWOL

MBABANE – Mbabane Highlanders midfielder Lindani ‘Rio’ Matsenjwa has reportedly gone AWOL (absent without official leave) from the team.

The publication reported last week that the talented yet controversial midfielder was set to depart the club at the end of the season after joining Highlanders in the 2018/2019 season. The former Moneni Pirates player has since experienced a tumultuous relationship with the club and the strained relationship included public disputes with Managing Director Ally Kgomongwe in the past. The former Moneni Pirates midfielder even took the club to the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) Player’s Status Committee, alleging that the club failed to pay his salary for three months in previous seasons.

Latest news coming from the Inkunzi Emnyama camp indicated that the midfielder has gone AWOL and was noticeably absent during his team’s narrow 1-0 victory against Denver Sundowns at KaLanga Technical Centre on Saturday afternoon. Sources close to the club have stated that Matsenjwa was last seen in a match against Young Buffaloes, where Mbabane giants suffered a 1-4 defeat at the same venue a fortnight ago. “We currently don’t know the whereabouts of our midfielder Lindani Matsenjwa, and this comes as no surprise, given his expected departure from the team if he doesn’t change his attitude. During our match against Young Buffaloes, he left for the dressing room before the game had even finished, which left the technical team expressing their disappointment, as they felt it was difficult to help someone who doesn’t want to be helped,” the source said.

Meanwhile, reports indicated that new coach ‘Spanish’ has also not been impressed with Matsenjwa’s performance since joining the club earlier this month. The former Denver Sundowns gaffer has not selected the midfielder for any of his three matches in charge. In a post-match interview recently, he revealed that the team would be releasing players who fail to impress him in the remaining league games. “We are not playing for anything, but having trials to the players to see who will be in the team or not and we really need to go scouting for players and we need to beef up our squad,” he said.The Highlanders midfielder could not be drawn for comment at the time of compiling this report yesterday afternoon.

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