Posted in News on Jan 30, 2007.
The 22-year-old Tshabalala came to Chiefs with the injury he had picked up a few months ago while still with Free State Stars, and had to undergo the surgery in order to repair damage done to cartilage in his knee.
Chiefs physiotherapist David Milner is pleased with the outcome of the surgery and is confident that Siphiwe will be able to make a full recovery before the season is out as Milner added. “Siphiwe had the surgery about a week ago and since then we have given him time off to recover, as well as recuperate from having had to undergo the operation. The initial signs are that all is well with him we needed to repair the cartilage damage in his right knee, so that we could get him on the road to recovery we will start his rehabilitation work next week”.
Amakhosi coach Ernst Middendorp is going to afford the youngster all the time he needs to recover saying “like I have said previously that is Siphiwe is a really good player, his acquisition was a more to medium to long term purchase. We were aware that he was carrying an injury and understood that he might require and operation, so the correct thing for us to do is for him to carry out the recovery programme, hopefully he will be available for selection towards the middle of March. That is the time when the title race hot’s up and it is in those last few weeks of the campaign that as a coach you would like to have a full strength squad available”
In related news, Chiefs defender Siphiwe Mkhonza resumed training with the rest of the team on Tuesday. Mkhonza missed Chiefs game at the weekend against Ajax Cape Town after being injured on the 21st January when Chiefs lost in Orkney to Jomo Cosmos. Mkhonza’s return ahead of the game with Sundowns, is a boost for Chiefs and allows Ernst Middendorp the opportunity to go into the game with extra defensive opportunities. Like Mkhonza another Chiefs defender Fabian McCarthy who had also been on the injured list, resumed training on Monday.
