Antonio raring to prove he’s all the way back

MICHAIL ANTONIO says he has worked hard to make his way back to playing football far earlier than expected and now wants to get down to the business of showing the world he’s back to his best.

The West Ham striker struck a tree with his Ferrari last year, suffering a compound fracture to his femur, the injury promising a long route to a comeback, and possibly no comeback at all.

Antonio had a few training sessions with West Ham, and so it was a complete surprise that he was included in the Reggae Boyz 60-man squad at the Gold Cup.

Even more surprising was when the West Ham man made the final 23-man squad. And if that wasn’t enough of a shock, Antonio has played in both games the country has played at the Gold Cup.

“For me, obviously it’s a bit of a surprise to be back so early, but it’s something that I’ve worked hard for and the growth that I’ve put in to be here,” said Antonio.

Antonio is in the middle of contract negotiations with West Ham, who offered him a ‘pay as you play’ contract, which the frontman refused. The Gold Cup may just be his window of opportunity to convince his bosses he is still the asset that has turned out 323 times for West Ham and scored 83 goals with 42 assists

“I’m happy for the experience and happy to be here again, and, hopefully, I can keep going out and show what I can do and show everybody that I’m not just back, I’m back and I’m playing well,” he said.

Still, there has been some ring rust on the big forward and he admits to having to start over.

“First game, actually just preparing for it, getting on the coach, on the way to the game, I felt a bit lost, I felt a bit nervous. It was like the very first time playing football again; obviously, after the experience that I’ve been through,” said Antonio.

According to the striker, just being in the changing room was strange, but he credits training for helping to find himself on the pitch.

“Even when I was in the changing rooms, I was kind of just walking around, and a couple of boys said, ‘Michail, are you alright?’ I was kind of zoned out. But obviously, when the opportunity came to me and I got to go on the pitch, yeah, the first sprint, the first touch; obviously, the challenges I’ve been used to because I’ve been training for quite a bit. It kind of just got me back into it and it was like muscle memory,” he said.

“I got back to it, used to it, the body was ready for it and I was excited. So the training has carried me through and since then, obviously after the games, you get a bit stiff and you get a warm-up and you look after the body right, and that’s what I’ve been doing. So each game I’m there, ready, raring to go, and wait for the opportunity to come again.”