Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena has given an update on Bongani Zungu after he had to be substituted in the first half of the 1-1 draw against Golden Arrows after he suffered a bad cut in the face at Princess Magogo Stadium on Wednesday night.
Zungu was jumping high to meet the corner kick but he came worse as collided with an Arrows player inside the box, with his face left bloodied afterwards.
Sundowns medical staff quickly rushed to him to wipe off the blood in his face and took him away from the field. They then indicated to the coach Mokwena that he can’t continue and the Bafana Bafana international was stretchered off.
When he was attended by the medical team and Sundowns playing with man less, Arrows took full advantage as Ryan Moon swept home in the first half, meeting Divine Lunga’s cross, on loan from Sundowns, to open the scoring for the home side.
Mokwena, in Zungu’s place, replaced him with Sipho Mbule, who went on to score a header late in the game to salvage the draw.
“It’s a deep cut just underneath the eye, a little bit swollen,” Mokwena said when asked by iDiski Times about Zungu’s injury.
Zungu only recently came back from injury and this starter was his first league game of the season, but it lasted until 25 minutes.
“But I’m proud of the kid, I’m proud of [Siyabonga] Mabena, I’m proud of Mbule, who did very, very well when he came on. Proud of Lebo [Maboe] also, proud of Terrence [Mashego], he fought,” added Mokwena.
“Yeah, we have to go, we have to do better in Stellenbosch to win the match.”
It was Zungu’s first appearance playing club football in KwaZulu-Natal as the last time he played in the province for Sundowns before he went to join Vitoria Guimaraes in Portugal, suffered a leg injury against Maritzburg United on 30 January 2016 when he came together with Philani Zulu at Harry Gwala Stadium.
Sundowns, who have now drawn three successive DStv Premiership matches since being confirmed as champions with seven games to spare, now turn their focus to the Nedbank Cup, where they will face Stellenbosch FC in the quarter-final on Saturday in Cape Town.
