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Tadious Manyepo
Sports Reporter
VERSATILE Warriors player, Qadr Amini, says he wanted to make a huge impression at the just-ended CHAN finals in Cameroon.
After all, he felt, it was his last chance to catch the eyes of dozens of scouts, who graced the tournament, having been ignored in the tourney’s second edition in Sudan in 2011.
The 31-year-old full-back, who is equally comfortable playing in midfield, missed over half-a-season between 2018 and 2019, after suffering a career-threatening knee injury.
He, however, bounced back in style, producing some eye-catching performances, in the last half of 2019.
And, when he was called into the Warriors provisional CHAN squad, he proved his mettle to coach, Zdravko Logarusic, who told the media Amini was one of his key players.
Then trouble started.
On December 28, Amini — along with eight other players and five officials, including Zdravko — tested positive for Covid-19, throwing everything into disarray.
“I was mentally troubled. I prayed every day, three times a day. I wasn’t prepared, I didn’t expect all that,’’ he told The Herald.
‘’I was focused on playing the game and I thought I would return negative results in what I thought to be a routine test.
“Well, I tested positive and then went into quarantine. It was hard. You always think you will return a positive result, in the next round of testing, and it’s mentally taxing.
“It was hard, very hard.
‘’You got to tell yourself that this is real, although it feels like some bad dream.”
The player tested negative, in the final round of examinations, along with seven of his teammates, with Tawanda Nyamandwe the only one to retain a positive result.
Little did Amini know, his nightmare was still just beginning.
He was further tested, before Zimbabwe’s opening game against hosts Cameroon on January 16.
A “potentially life-threatening infection,” was detected in his heart and coach Loga had to change his first XI.
Further tests would also rule Amini out of the do-or-die second match against Burkina Faso.
“It was just too much. This is one tournament I know, for sure, that players get to market themselves,’’ he said.
‘’It’s an ideal platform to showcase oneself and I thought, and hoped, that I was going to get a chance to play.”
He was thrown into the fray, in the dead-rubber last group tie against Mali, after the Warriors medical team cleared him to play.
But, as he was just trying to find his feet, barely three minutes into the game, Amini was replaced.
“My world froze. I thought it was a mistake, or I was back into quarantine where nightmares were the order of the day,’’ he said.
“But, my conscience kept on telling me this was real.
‘’I didn’t understand.
‘’The explanation would arrive moments later, of course, I just told myself it wasn’t meant to be my tournament in the first place.”
ZIFA president Felton Kamambo later told the media Amini was replaced early because he had not been cleared to play, due to an infection, which could have compromised even his life on the field of play.
Then, as the Warriors, were about to depart from Cameroon, five members of the team, including Amini, again tested positive to Coronavirus.
They had to remain in quarantine in Cameroon for over a week.
Three members of the delegation, including Amini and assistant coach Tonderai Ndiraya, returned home on Saturday.
The other two members, ZIFA board member, Bryton Malandule, and the goalkeepers’ coach, flew back home yesterday.
“I will have to sit down and reflect but I haven’t experienced such horror in my life. I leave everything in Allah’s hands.”
Online Reporter