Waris makes first start in four months

Ghana international Waris Majeed managed another major landmark on his road to recovery from injury as he started Trabzonspor’s 1-1 draw away at Genclerbirligi.

While the forward and his teammates will doubtless be disappointed at their failure to beat their opponents on Sunday, the match represented an important moment for the Black Star.

The former Valenciennes attacker has had his year decimated by injury, and his start this weekend was his first appearance in a starting line-up for four months.

Indeed, the last time the 23-year-old started for Trabzonspor was on December 29, and a Super Lig defeat to Eskisehirspor. It was in that match that Waris suffered the muscle injury that was to keep him out for the first third of 2015.

Indeed, the injury cost him an appearance at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, where the Black Stars—under the guidance of Avram Grant—advanced to the final, where they were defeated by the Cote d’Ivoire.

Waris made his comeback from injury away at Mersin, on the ninth of March, managing 12 minutes as Trabzonspor secured a 5-1 triumph. He featured for a further five minutes away at Konyaspor at the beginning of April, before finally returning to the starting XI against Genclerbirligi.

The Black Sea Storm fell behind in the match when substitute Nemanja Tomic opened the scoring for the homeside. However, they pushed forward in search of an equaliser and finally found the net when Algeria midfielder Carl Medjani finally beat Ferhat Kaplan.

By this point, Waris had left the field, being replaced by Ishak Dogan on 69 minutes.

The Black Star clearly isn’t completely back to his best and was a peripheral figure.

The draw leaves Trabzonspor outside the Europa League places, but, with six matches to play, they are equal on points with fourth-place Bursaspor and will remain confident of overtaking the Green Crocodiles before the season ends.