Chicken Inna��s inseparable duo

Fungai Muderere
CAPTAIN Danny a�?Decoa�? Phiri is Chicken Inna��s poster boy but Teenage Hadebe and Lawrence Mhlangaa��s defensive partnership could be the key to Rahman Gumboa��s success.

The two are formidable in defence in as much as they are inseparable in real life.
They have been in each othera��s business since childhood.

a�?We have been friends since childhood. We had dreams of becoming professional footballers when we were very young. I remember the days when we had to walk barefooted to Callies Sports Club to attend AmaZulua��s training sessions,a�? recalled Hadebe.

The two hail from Mzilikazi and Makokoba, neighbouring suburbs that are separated by a stream.
Like Brazila��s Thiago Silva and David Luiz they shared a dream and walked the talk since the beginning of their interest in football.

In 2008 Martin a�?Mkomaa�? Ncube, the then AmaZulu Under-16 coach gave the duo a lifeline. He practically saved them from life on the streets at a time when the economy was bad. They could have chosen the other route of drugs and crime leading to their demise.

Ncube would wait for them to arrive for training at Callies Sports Club from the high density suburbs.

In no time, they went on to don the famous gold and black AmaZulu colours at Under 18 where they formed the cluba��s backline although Hadebe was also used as a left link midfielder or could play behind strikers.

a�?I would walk from Mzilikazia��s U square to fetch Teenage at Makokobaa��s 11th Street and we would proceed for training. We were being inspired by the likes of Zephania Ngodzo, Gilbert Banda, Honour Gombami, Johannes Ngodzo among other players who had already carved their names in the local football circles,a�? said Mhlanga.

In 2011, from AmaZulu, the two starlets who both went to Mzilikazi High School, joined Highlandersa�� Under 18 team that played in the then Zifa Southern Region Division Two League.

It was not long before 2013 when their football journey took them to ambitious Southern Region Division One Club Bantu Rovers.

However, the heavily built Mhlanga did not finish the season as he was snatched by the now defunct Premier Soccer League outfit Monomotapa.

While his pal Hadebe remained steadfast at Tshintsha Guluva, in 2014 Mhlanga signed for Chicken Inn.
It seemed like the two friends had lost each other.

But as fate would have it, the two former Mzilikazi High pupils reunited in the national Under-23 set up in 2015 where they played as twin centre backs in the All Africa Games qualifiers and finals that were held in Congo Brazzaville.

In the same year, they also featured for the senior national team in the 2016 Chan qualifiers. Their memorable match being against Comoros (away).

a�?It was a dream come true for us to reunite in the national teams set-up. It was very easy for us to form a partnership in central defence because we knew each other very well. The coach (Kallisto Pasuwa) also used us as twin centre backs during one of the Chan qualifiers (versus Comoros). After the game, which we drew nil-all, in our hotel room, I had the audacity to tell Lawrence (Mhlanga) that against all odds it can still be done,a�? said Hadebe.

Year 2016 also afforded them another chance for the partnership to replicate at club level as Hadebe was released by Bantu Rovers to Chicken Inn on a seasona��s loan. They have both featured constantly for Gamecocks as centre backs.

The pair (of footballers, not their look-alikes) was recently once again in the spotlight at the 2016 COSAFA Cup in Namibia, firstly because they formed the solid base upon which the Warriors did not concede in their last match of the group stages in which they walloped Seychelles 5-0.

Interestingly, they both scored in the match where Mhlanga grabbed a brace and Hadebe came out with a single goal.

The three goals came courtesy of three beautiful headers from the defensive duo and the development took Hadebea��s national team goals tally to three after getting a brace, again through his head, for Pasuwaa��s men against Uganda in the build-up to Warriorsa�� 2017 Afcon qualifier against Malawi.

In many ways, they make for an odd couple. On a personal level, at least, the two could hardly be more different: Mhlanga is at times quiet and reserved, preferring to do his talking on the pitch, while Hadebe adores the spotlight, rarely forgoing the chance to speak his mind or share his personal life online. You get the sense that, if they met one another in the street in a world without football, they would probably not have a great deal to talk about.

On the field, however, they dovetail wonderfully. Theirs is a gloriously instinctive division of labour: Mhlanga intercepts, Hadebe makes the last-ditch interventions; Mhlanga leads by example, Hadebe shouts himself hoarse; Mhlanga spreads calm, Hadebe energises. The whole is greater than its two contrasting parts.

That dynamic is not lost on the pair, that happily acknowledges the strength of the partnership.

a�?We understand each other so well that we know what to do without looking at each other. When Hadebe bails me out after a mistake, I feel I have a duty to repay him a�� on the field or off it (eKasi),a�? said Mhlanga.