Golden Arrows co-coach Vusi Vilakazi has confirmed that his captain Thabani Zuke is unlikely to play again this season.
Zuke suffered what looked like an innocuous leg injury when the season resumed in December post the FIFA World Cup against Kaizer Chiefs in Durban.
He was replaced in the 76th minute in that game as Arrows lost 2-0 to Amakhosi at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.
The Durban-based club has tried to patch up the team in his absence, but they have won only two of the six matches played afterwards.
They lost the last two games to TS Galaxy and Royal AM respectively to be drawn down to the relegation zone with 22 points after 20 matches. This has put a lot of pressure on Vilakazi and Mabhuti Khenyeza, who are sharing the coaching role at the club.
“Zuke is injured,” said Vilakazi, as his side host Motsepe Foundation Championship side Pretoria Callies in the Nedbank Cup last 32 at Princess Magogo Stadium on Saturday.
“[He will be out] for the betterment of the season. Zuke is injured, and he’s not even at the rehab or something like that, he’s seriously injured.
“So he is out and we cannot count on Zuke at the moment. We will still work with what we have.”
According to iDiski Times sources, Zuke suffered a bad injury, severely related to his knee and the player is trying everything he can to get back to see different specialists.
Depending on the severity of the knee injury which is related to the ACL, Zuke is set to be out for the rest of the season, including rehab to strengthen his knee. This publication has learnt that he is going for an operation on Friday.
Vilakazi said it is why they signed Scelo Hlatshwayo from Marumo Gallants, even though he has played in the right-back position.
“Maybe what we will do in this game [against Callies] is to check the possibility of playing Scelo as a centre back because when we signed him, we signed him as a centre back but when he arrived here we had a problem at the full back position,” said Vilakazi.
“Now we will have to restructure in terms of making sure that we are okay. We will play a youngster who has been playing in the DDC for the first time on the weekend as a right back so that we can use Scelo as centre back.”
Arrows will look to reach the Ke Yona Cup round of 16 for the first time since reaching the semi-final in the 2018/19 season before losing to eventual winners TS Galaxy.
They have been poor in the last three editions, losing to Vaal University of Technology (SAB League), AmaZulu and TTM respectively – all in the first round.
