NEAL COLLINS, Johannesburg | Sunday
LUCAS Radebe, known at “The Chief” at Leeds United, is ready to concede defeat in his own personal Battle of Wounded Knee.
The 33-year-old Bafana Bafana captain faces yet another bout of surgery on his knees after the joint locked during training at the club’s Thorpe Arch training complex last Tuesday.
Radebe, desperate to make at least a few high-profile Premiership appearances to ensure he is selected for South Africa’s World Cup squad in three months, told the Sunday People publication: “I don’t want to end up a cripple but if I keep pushing myself, that could be a reality.
“I’m in a terrible situation because I don’t want to quit the game. But I want to be able to walk properly when I finish and I want to play football in the garden with my son Lucas junior – but I know I may be risking all that by chasing my dream of playing for Leeds and South Africa again.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever play at that level again. This is very emotional for me after all I’ve been through.”
Radebe was set to turn out for the Leeds reserves at Manchester City on Thursday when he collapsed in agony. He recalls: “It was just normal. I turned with the ball and I felt my knee shift then lock. It was agony and I just thought ‘oh no not again’.
“I just can’t believe it’s happened because I was so close to playing half a game in the reserves and then I had my eyes set on the Premiership.
“As soon as it happened I knew I’d done something serious and there was a lot of pain, swelling and fluid. I’ve seen a specialist already and I’ll be having some more tests next week to find out more.
“I won’t give in until the medical people say ‘That’s it, you have to walk away now’. I’ll keep fighting on as long as I can.”
But Radebe admits that even his own boss, David O’Leary feels the time has come for him to call it quits.
“I sat down with the manager earlier this season and he said I should maybe start to consider a future without football.
“At this precise moment I still don’t know. It was always my dream to captain South Africa in the African Nations Cup that’s underway now and then the World Cup in Japan next summer, but that does not look possible today.
“It’s been torture for me coming in every day then heading for the treatment room while the rest of the lads go out training but they have all been really supportive.”