Tadious Manyepo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
NELSON Chadya was just 15 and still in Form 3 when he got the trust to keep the goals at Division One side Heartily over 13 years ago.
But it was his training routine that caught the attention of one of his veteran teammates, Takesure Chiragwi.
And one day, Chiragwi pulled him aside and said words that Chadya has never forgotten. Chiragwi recalls: “I told him, to keep working like what he was doing. I told him that one of those days, the nation will know about you. The whole country will talk about you.’”
Chadya remembers those words like it was yesterday.
“He told me that when I was still very young. I was 15. I was still at school. But he believed in me before anyone else believed in me,” says Chadya.
“Those words stayed in my head. Every time I trained, I remembered them. Every time I felt tired, I remembered them. Every time I wanted to give up, I remembered them.”
“Chiragwi saw something in me that I did not even see in myself.”
As fate would have it, Chiragwi later coached Chadya and he won the Goalkeeper of the Year in 2022 and they both won the Premier Soccer League trophy in 2023 with Ngezi Platinum Stars.
Chadya won his second league title last year with Scottland.
Today, their paths have crossed again, but on a bigger stage.
Chiragwi is now the assistant Warriors coach while Chadya proved last Thursday that he can be their Number One goalkeeper in an outstanding show against Equatorial Guinea when Zimbabwe drew 0-0 in a 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Cameroon.
Last Thursday, the nation finally got to appreciate him, just as Chiragwi had predicted more than a decade ago.
In Yaounde, Chadya was outstanding and mostly brave in keeping their hosts at bay.
He was the reason Zimbabwe came back with a point.
“He was brilliant. He showed he can be our Number One,” says Chiragwi.
“I was not surprised. I have known Nelson since he was 15. I know what he can do. I know his character. I know his heart. On Thursday, the whole nation saw what I saw in 2013.”
Now, the return leg is today at the National Sports Stadium and Chadya is going to be one of the most important factors in this match.
Both teams are on four points, two behind leaders DR Congo.
For Zimbabwe, this is a must-win match.
If the Warriors win today, they will take their tally to seven points and take a huge step towards the 2027 AFCON finals in Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya.
That is why Chadya will be the most important man on the pitch.
“I am ready for Monday (today). I was ready on Thursday and I am ready for Monday (today),” says Chadya.
“We got a point away from home. Now we must finish the job at home. We must win in front of our fans.
“I know this is a must-win game. I know what is at stake. I know the fans expect us to win. We will fight. We will give everything.
“I have been waiting for this moment for a long time. From Heartily, to Ngezi Platinum, to Scottland, to the Warriors. I have worked for this. I will not let the nation down.”
It’s about the boy who has become a man and the mentor who saw all this coming is now on the bench as assistant coach, watching his boy protect the nation’s goal.
Chiragwi said it in 2013 and Chadya has proved it since given the nod at Ngezi Platinum Stars in 2016.
But today, at the National Sports Stadium, Chadya has to show he is actually the man the Warriors have been missing in donkey years.
