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THE best development always comes to happy countries, and on the happiness index, Zimbabwe ranks low — by any measure. We have been unlucky as a nation — droughts, a struggling economy and lately a global conspiracy against our nation’s development by powerful countries.
But that is not all that makes us unhappy, it turns out: our perennial sporting failures are a cause of much discontent. Just witness how the nation welcomed the Warriors’ progress to the quarter finals of the African Nations Championship in Cape Town on Monday. A small step in a small tournament triggering giant fountains of hope for a nation so accustomed to failure, but eternally craving success.
If our well-deserved 1-0 win over Burkina Faso on Monday taught us anything, it was that we must believe. For far too long, we have accepted mediocrity as our national standard, yet the performance and manner of the victory in South Africa showed that a team united under a popular coach, focused and not burdened by off-field problems can compete with Africa’s best.
In three matches on our path to the quarter finals, having also played Morocco and Uganda, we have not conceded a single goal — in fact the only team not to have its defence breached. If we as a nation cannot draw inspiration from this, cannot grow confidence from this, then we will never see opportunity even if it smacks us square in our faces.
Granted, the CHAN tournament is only for players from domestic African leagues. There is no doubt that some of the teams can be a lot stronger with their foreign-based contingent in their squads, but if our performance so far is a measure of the competitiveness of our domestic league, we can safely say we have a solid basis to build from, starting now. We have the validation we needed.
Against Mali on Saturday, the Warriors can lift the national mood a notch up. We have been pursing happiness for far too long, it is time to create it — and Gorowa deserves our full support in this quest.
Online Reporter