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The last time the black and white army went on a rampage and ruthlessly pummelled their neighbours 7-1 was in 1998 when they got the better of Zimbabwe Saints, earning the late Saints goalkeeper Reuben Chandata the nickname “Lucky Seven.”
It was one hell of a Sunday for some, but a beautiful one for Highlanders fans and those who follow the Olympic Games. After the Barbourfields showmanship by youthful Highlanders, capped by a stunning performance by rookie Ozias “Ozizi” Zibande, it was time to witness showmanship of the highest order from television with action happening miles away in London.
For sports followers, when you witness a stunning goal from a 20-year-old, struck some 30 metres away from the goalkeeper and then you retire home to some top showmanship from a star performer in the mould of Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, you retire to bed satisfied with the thrills of sport.
And the media has just put it right. “There are Olympic champions, and then there is Usain Bolt. Bolt, you see, is as much showman as sprinter — the Muhammad Ali of this generation — and he knows how to build to a big finish. On Sunday, in a race that he seemed perfectly poised to lose, he ran the second-fastest 100 metres ever recorded, only 0.05 seconds off his own world record. That time of 9.63 seconds won him a gold medal, with countryman Yohan Blake taking silver and American Justin Gatlin taking bronze. But really, it was just the warm-up act.”
And on Thursday night, Bolt reaffirmed his status as the phenomenal greatest sprinter of all time, winning the 200m race and then dropping to the track and began doing push-ups. The Jamaican giant entered the record books as the first man ever to successfully defend his titles at both that distance and 100m. His time of 19.32 seconds was however, outside his own 19.19 world record.
But pundits said he could have beaten that had he not cockily eased off to taunt second-placed Blake, who was also second in the 100m final, by raising a finger to his lips as he crossed the line. And with the race over, the 25-year-old showed he still had energy to spare by performing a series of push-ups before kneeling down to kiss the London track and grabbing a camera from a journalist to shoot his team mates and spectators.
Don’t get me wrong, yes don’t lose me somewhere, I am not saying Ozias is Bolt, no, but his first goal last Sunday was a cool tap in, and his second and seventh for Bosso was from the top drawer and it all happened on Sunday, on the day Bolt illuminated the world once more and in a week Bolt exerted his dominance in sport, eclipsing any other sporting star you can think of.
Interestingly, the sprinter’s father took him to the doctor when he was a kid — because he was worried about him running around too much. Media reports say he actually wanted to slow his boy down. However, the doctor assured Gideon Bolt that Usain was simply a hyper-active child who needed to burn his energy up.
And today, the world acknowledges that athletics has never seen anything like the 25-year-old before and it may never do so again. Pundits say he defies logic, suffering from a back condition called scoliosis which causes his spine to curve to the right and meant he has one leg shorter than the other. And being 6ft 5in tall with size 13 feet is not ideal when it comes to going off the blocks. But he just overcame all this.
The man makes sport so beautiful and it is goals by the likes of young Zibande that also make our game so beautiful. Quelaton had been pummelled left, right and centre and they had given in to an extent that no one cared if they conceded a goal or scored another goal themselves, but when “Ozizi” struck his second goal, the whole house stood up to salute him.
Like after the first goal, he bolted from his team mates to get a hug from his coach, Kelvin Kaindu, who has shown some degree of faith in him. And you tend to appreciate why the young lad thanks his coach each time he finds the back of the net, it’s not easy to throw into the fray youngsters in the Premiership, particularly in a team like Highlanders which is yet to taste defeat this season and expectations are always very high.
And Kaindu still remains modest about the performance of his entire team and the youngster.
Should Kaindu give him a start or continue with the patient introductions? The Zambian had this to say after the demolition of Quelaton on the young striker having a start.
“I cannot comment on that. It will depend on his performance at training, but he is a fantastic young star and has a bright future. I am sure you saw the beautiful goal that he scored.”
And to his advantage, “Ozizi” has some veterans to learn the trade from, veterans who will also take the punches on his behalf if things do not go according to plan, the likes of Beavan Chikaka, Graham Ncube, Milton Ncube and Masimba Mambare who have been taking turns to start games and get goals for the team.
The Premier Soccer League also deserves a pat on the back for the introduction of a new regulation forcing clubs to register at least five players who are Under-20, to give youngsters a chance to develop. If you have 25 registered players, and five are youngsters, there is no way you cannot use two or three of them during the course of the season and those few minutes on the pitch at the highest level of the game in the country give them exposure and confidence.
The Highlanders and Quelaton derby was certainly not the game of the week, despite overshadowing all other matches because of the goal harvest by the log leaders.
The game of the week was at the beautiful Mandava Stadium in Zvishavane where FC Platinum hosted defending champions Dynamos. The Bulawayo-Masvingo road was busy on Sunday morning, and so was the road from Harare to Masvingo and Zvishavane as football fans, mostly made up DeMbare die-hards and some neutrals wanted to catch the action at Mandava.
The contest was a see-saw affair, but FC Platinum had themselves to blame for allowing Dynamos to steal the full points with a late winner, when the game looked set to be a draw. And more so, with a stunning goal from striker Donald Ngoma, who connected with a diving header a cross from the right in the second half.
The only blemish on the otherwise interesting game was missile throwing by fans from both sides, causing a few minutes stoppage and the sending off of the home side’s defender, Qadr Amini. Otherwise, all eyes are on this week’s fixtures, and we wish you an enjoyable Heroes holiday.
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Londile Moyo
Bongani Ndlovu