Donovan misses out

Grace Chingoma Sports Reporter
HOW Mine goalkeeper Donovan Bernard was a disappointed man when he missed an opportunity for an evaluation from a Tanzanian scout for Simba Stars who watched the Warriors friendly against the Taifa Stars at the National Sports Stadium yesterday.

The goalkeeper, who is second in command to Tatenda Mukuruva was hoping to get some game time, but was kept on the bench for the entire game.

The Herald understands that officials from Simba wanted a further analysis on the goalkeeper before opening negotiations with his parent club Aces Youth Academy.

Although he confirmed that he was aware that there was man on a mission to further assess him, Bernard did not shed much light on the impending deal.

“He wanted to see me playing so there is nothing concrete. There is nothing, there is no deal,” said Bernard.

Warriors coach Callisto Pasuwa revealed that he used yesterday’s game to build on the confidence of his first choice goalie Mukuruva who he reckoned had suffered a dip in confidence.

“Remember, he (Mukuruva) had problems playing at his club and confidence was now lacking maybe due to some media reports so we wanted him to regain his confidence again so that he can do better.

“In the next match we play, I think we will have a chance for these two boys (Nelson Chadya and Bernard),” said Pasuwa.

The gaffer said with a bit hindsight he could have afforded his two goalkeepers a half each to play.

“I wasn’t aware of that (scouts) and with the rains we could not afford to change the goalkeepers later in the match.

“We could have given them 45 minutes each, but our game plan was affected and you wouldn’t want to bring someone when the match was no longer playable due to the rains,” Pasuwa said.

The coach also explained his choice to field Golden Arrows midfielder Danny Phiri in the heart of defence.

“World over, football now needs to be initiated from the back. Gone are the days when defenders would pump up the ball to the front.

“We are going on another stage, where as Zimbabwe our weakness has always been on keeping possession with danger to have our opponents come on to us, so it is confidence we are giving to the defenders that they shouldn’t hold on the ball for too long and I think he (Phiri) did very well and it might be a surprise to people to see him there, but what they don’t know is that he has played there before.”