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Ntshangase thankful to be a footballer

Maritzburg United midfielder Phumlani Ntshangase says the enforced break from football has given him plenty of time to count his blessings.

The 25-year-old midfielder, who is on loan with the Team of Choice from Bidvest Wits, admits it has been tough without the beautiful game, but he is keeping himself busy, nonetheless.

Ntshangase, who has already won the Premiership title, Telkom Knockout and MTN8 in his career thus far, had just returned from injury ahead of the enforced lockdown as a result of the coronavirus.

Ntshangase told the club's official website that apart from keeping fit, he is taking care of his family's animals.

He said: "Obviously we have been given a program that we must do every day to keep our bodies active and fit, that I do from Monday to Saturday. I also take care of cows, goats and chicken - every morning we take them out for food and drinking."

Ntshangase added that he remains in contact with a number of his Maritzburg team-mates while remaining thankful for his current lifestyle.

"We communicate about how is everything going and discuss the training program during lockdown because we have never experienced something like this before, where you have to stay at home and cannot be close to or touch anybody."

He added: "Yeah obviously I’m a human being - we always think about this, especially us footballers because we look at how lucky we are to live this kind of lifestyle at this age.

"School for me is one of the most important things in the world because it gives you a lot of opportunities to do a lot of things. So, I would have tried maybe something regarding business; most people like to do businesses because that’s where the money is.

"It might be property, construction or trading. Especially now that we are going through lockdown, your mind gets to think a lot about what you would have done if you were not playing football."

- TEAMtalk media

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