admin
Noel Munzabwa, Sports Correspondent
WHEN a group of Gweru boys were plucked from the dusty Mkoba High School and for the first enjoyed moments in the skies slicing through the transnational and trans-continental airs to Norway for a fortnight long soccer sojourn in winter of 2005, a then 15-year-old gangly boy called Elvis Chipezeze began to dream.
His dream of an international breakthrough began and grew even stronger when the Gweru-born goal minder not only guided Chicken Inn to the home zone of the 2015 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League but on a personal front won the goalkeeper of the year.
Many believed the boy had ripened for that dream breakthrough and then when he reclaimed the goalkeeper’s glory last season, the question “When is that breakthrough” came forth to the lips of many including his own club administration front Tapiwa Marima, also a former goalkeeper.
But Chipezeze is losing no hope and if anything believes he is leaving his Romans 5 verse 3 – 6 moments of his career.
Romans 5 v 3 “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
In an interview on Tuesday afternoon as he prepared preparatory school time for his three-year-old namesake son, Chipezeze now 28 retained hope that one day he would be invited for trials abroad but committed himself to working hard on earning national team caps first.
“Just like every other soccer player I dream of a move abroad and for me it all started with that tour of Norway in 2005 then as a teenager and has lived on since. Even my involvement with the Chan felt as an enhancement.
“Having such a dream doesn’t mean that I am not happy at Chicken Inn but rather means one’s career profile needs to grow at some point in time and for me I have not lost hope. I still believe the toil is building a strong character in me.
“Therefore I need to work hard and this I have set a target of getting back to national team action, earn a little more national caps and prove to many that winning two goalkeeper of the year awards in three years were not a fluke at all,” said Chipezeze.
But where is it going wrong for him? Is it the uninspiring marketing of soccer players in this country? Is it the poor management of key statistics that would court the attention of potential suitors? Again maybe, but Chipezeze keeps his own statistics but is not aligned to any agent.
“I sometimes look at my statistics and ask myself what am I still doing locally but still use that as self inspiration, that my best is not best enough to earn a move abroad, so I must work hard to get there,” said Chipezeze.
After the tour of Norway, Chipezeze was to lie low only to resurface at now defunct Red Cross where he spent a season, then half a year at Matshiyakwakhiwe before crossing to Gweru Pirates but it was at ZimAlloys that he caught the eye of the late Chicken Inn head coach Adam Ndlovu.
Ever since he joined the Bulawayo outfit in 2012, Chipezeze has been a very economic feature playing an average of 95 percent of the games and just last season missed just three of the matches through suspension and injury.
He doesn’t recognise his feature in the Warriors Chan finals squad.
“The fact that I sat out the entire tournament doesn’t count to me as national team caps but obviously I celebrate the two individual national accolades and 2015 league gold as my best achievements,” concluded Chipezeze.
As he battles on for the breakthrough, age has also emerged as another battle front and only time can be the best prophet as to how, when and where that step forward will come.
derick.khumalo