…. Was his AFCON Outburst, A Case of Passion Over Reality?

Wolves were back in action on Saturday, this time to kick-start their FA Cup campaign but Marshall Munetsi was once again conspicuous by his absence from the match-day squad.

It was the seventh Wolves game that Munetsi was missing since incurring a calf injury on December in an English Premier Soccer League match against Nottingham Forest.

Wolves who seem to have finally found their touch after a 19-match winless run romped to a comprehensive 6-1 win over Shrewsbury Town at the Molineux.

His club, after undertaking medical checks on the midfielder, ruled him out as long-term injury casualty and advised the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) about his condition, effectively ending his 2025 Africa Cup of Nations hopes as he was subsequently omitted from Zimbabwe’s 28-man squad that travelled to Morocco.

Instead of focusing on healing and, also, offer his support to the Warriors, Munetsi launched a public tirade against ZIFA and the national team’s technical crew, maintaining that he was fully fit and should have been a part of the squad that was in Morocco.

 The player’s emotional social media posts suggested he was being unfairly treated.

Facts on the ground, however, tell a different story.

The controversial Munetsi’s insistence that he was "fit" and ready to represent the Warriors has been directly contradicted by his prolonged, Wolves absence even when cub manager Rob Edwards was battling with a thin squad.

The situation has deeply exposed the gap between Munetsi’s personal ambition and his actual physical condition.

Despite his claims that his calf injury was "nothing serious," he has not featured for Wolves in over a month.

Saturday’s match against Shrewsbury Town could yet have been a perfect stage for Munetsi to announce his return to action.

His fellow Warriors international who has already featured in a league game after Zimbabwe’s AFCON exit, was named as a substitute in the match-day squad for the FA Cup game.

By claiming he was fit for Zimbabwe while remaining unable to play for his club, Munetsi has put himself in a difficult position where his words no longer match both his availability and his ranting.

Beyond the physical injury, this saga has highlighted Munetsi's weakening position at Wolves.

Since Edwards took over as manager, Munetsi’s role has shifted from being a regular starter to a bit part player fuelling speculation he could be shipped out before the January transfer window closes.

Ironically Wolves have also begun to find winning form and scoring plenty of goals without Munetsi as seen in Saturday’s 6-1 win and the recent 3-0 league victory over West Ham suggests the team is moving in a new direction.

What is clear though is that Munetsi did not make Marioan Marinica’s squad on medical grounds and all the social media noise about his absence from Morocco has fizzled into “Much A Do about nothing’’.

After all there is also a significant legal side to this story that Munetsi’s outburst ignored.

For a player to join a national team while carrying an injury, the club must sign a "liability waiver."

This document protects the club's multimillion-dollar asset.

Reports indicate that Wolves refused to sign this waiver because they knew his recovery would take at least six weeks.

Munetsi is fighting to save his career at the highest level, and his path back to the top will require fitness, not just passion and the social media playing ground.