New Sekhukhune United forward Evans Rusike is eager to get back on the football pitch after spending the last six months on the sidelines.
The Zimbabwe international has not played since he left SuperSport United at the end of the 2020-21 campaign and while he admits it has been a challenge to get himself fit and ready for the resumption of the season, he cannot wait to contribute for Sekhukhune.
"You have to be fit to be able to play, and I have been out for some time,” he says. “I have been doing rehabilitation for almost four months. I have been pushing hard and working with the fitness trainers. They have got me to where I am now.
"But it is also about getting the confidence with being back on the pitch and that comes from scoring. So I need to see where I am. With football you have to work hard. If you respect the game, it will respect you.”
Rusike has been signed along with Zambian forward Justin Shonga and right-back Luckyboy Mokoena, with the trio working towards making their debut in the Nedbank Cup Last 32 tie against second-tier Platinum City Rovers early next month.
"Each player has his own strength, I would want to use my strength of taking on defenders, getting goals and creating goals. I will just try to focus on that, to create goals and score goals,” Rusike says.
"When I joined the team I had a chat with the coach [MacDonald Makhubedu] and I told him I was happy they had won the GladAfrica Championship [last season]. And now I would be happy if we win something together as a club. We need to win something this year.”
Rusike first arrived in South Africa in the 2015/16 season when he joined Maritzburg United. He has scored 30 goals in 135 starts during his stay so far.