Maritzburg United have rubbished reports that Mohammed Awal was absent without leave, after he reportedly did not arrive back on time from international duty earlier this week. Some reports in the media claimed that the strong defender had not returned to the club as expected, after being in the Ghana squad which recently beat Zambia 2-1 in a World Cup qualifying encounter. However, United’s Commercial Manager, Younus Kadodia, has explained exactly why reports of Awal’s supposed late return were erroneous and misleading. He told the Soccer Laduma: “Mohammed was supposed to fly out on Sunday night from Ghana. He was expected back in South Africa on the Monday, but there was a delay in the flight. The articles that were published (about him being AWOL) were over-sensationalized, hey.” “If you read the article there’s nothing about Mohammed going AWOL, even though they suggested that in the headline. I mean he was supposed to arrive on Monday and he got here on Tuesday morning.” Kadodia added: “I mean he was training back with us on Tuesday afternoon and this particular story was published on Wednesday morning. It’s not good journalism, hey.”