Former Bafana Bafana and Crystal Palace midfielder has opened up about the lowest moment of his career, recalling the time when he suffered a career-threatening injury when he was playing for Cardiff City.
Dikgacoi left Premier League side Crystal Palace, dropping down a division to join Cardiff City in the Championship in 2014 after turning down a new contract at Selhurst Park.
During his stint at the Welsh club, the 38-year-old suffered a long-term injury which forced him out the game for eight months. He says he, at some point, he regretted leaving Crystal Palace as he believed that if he stayed at Palace he wouldn’t have got injured.
“I think after I signed with Cardiff City, the team had ambitions of going back to the Premier League,” Dikgacoi told ThisIsFootball.Africa.
“We had good quality players who could compete with all the teams in the division and the team was spending a lot of money on signing players. However, that’s when I sustained a long-term injury, I think I was out for eight months.
“I felt like I had let the team down and that I had let myself down. Maybe if I stayed at Crystal Palace I wouldn’t have had that injury.
“But I was strong, I followed the training programme that the specialist told me to follow.
“Yeah, it was tough because it was a career-threatening injury, I tore my ankle ligaments. And you can imagine being out for eight months. Its not easy, you have to be mentally strong.
“Normally, when players are out for that long, they struggle to find their form when they return.
“But I came back and got my position back, I did well, however, we never got to achieve what was expected by the team.”
‘KG’, as he is affectionately known, returned to South Africa in 2016, rejoining Golden Arrows from Cardiff City and played only one DStv Premiership season before he retired at the age of 33. He is now a coach in the ABC Motsepe League, mentoring Mangaung Unite FC.
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