Online Reporter
Sharuko on Saturday
ON May 30, 1984, a piece of African football history was written in gold letters and green colours.
Bruce Grobbelaar became the first African footballer to win the European Cup, which is now called the UEFA Champions League.
He also became the first African goalkeeper to have the honour of lifting the greatest prize in world club football.
He chose the Eternal City called Rome, which used to be the heartbeat of the Roman Empire, next door to the place which the Pope calls home, for him to write his name into the game’s history books.
He did it in the toughest way possible as his Liverpool side beat the home team, AS Roma, to be crowned champions of Europe, once again.
Bruce didn’t win it as just another ordinary member of the supporting cast.
He won it as the main man, especially in the penalty shootout drama that decided the match, the player who played the most decisive role.
His spaghetti legs antics, never seen before and after, unsettled the home players and Bruno Conti missed from the spot while Francesco Graziani crashed his effort against the post.
Liverpool won the shootout lottery 4-2 and Bruce, the first Africa goalkeeper to feature in the European Cup, became the first African footballer to win it.
It’s a measure of how difficult such a task is that, in the 71 years in which the tournament has been held, only TWO African goalkeepers have won it.
The other one is Edouard Mendy, the Senegalese ‘keeper, who won it with Chelsea five years ago.
Africa has produced some great ‘keepers – Thomas N’kono, Joseph Antoine Bell and the great Essam El-Hadary, who won four AFCON titles with Egypt and, at 45, became the oldest ‘keeper at the World Cup in 2018.
But, when you realise that for all the great ‘keepers, which the continent has produced, only two men – Bruce and Mendy – went on to win the UEFA Champions League, you can understand how special these two men were.
Bruce won just about everything that could be won as a footballer during his record-breaking time as Liverpool’s number one ‘keeper.
He played for the Reds when they were the best team in the world and, between 1977 and that triumph in Rome in 1984, they were crowned the best club in Europe four times.
They even went all the way to the final of the European Cup in 1985, but this time, they lost in the final to Juventus.
Bruce won three FA Cups, three League Cups and featured for Liverpool in 628 matches and, given that the Reds were the best team in the world, it was a great achievement.
During one lengthy golden spell, he played in 310 consecutive matches for the Reds.
When the story of Africa’s greatest goalkeepers is told, there is a tendency to leave Bruce out of the conversation on the continent.
The problem is not with those who leave out Bruce out of the conversation, not at all.
The problem is us, as Zimbabwean sports journalists, because we don’t find it attractive to tell the world our feel-good stories.
We are stuck chasing Facebook popularity, whatever that means, likes and stuff which, generally, are driven by stories wrapped up in a cloth knitted by stitches of negativity.
That’s why, two years ago, none of us remembered to remind the world, in general, and Africa, in particular, that this was the 40th anniversary of the year Bruce made history.
WE HAVE A GOOD RECORD OF PRODUCING EXCELLENT ‘KEEPERS
Generally, as a country, we have always had this reputation of being a nation which produces some fine ‘keepers and Bruce was the best of the lot.
Japhet Mparutsa came along and took goalkeeping, in this country, to another level at the same time that Bruce was performing his heroics at Liverpool.
With Bruce entertaining hopes of playing for England, the Short Cat became our Warriors number one and he did a very fine job of representing his country.
He remains one of the nicest ex-footballers you will ever come across and a voice of reason when it comes to our national game.
Before him, there was an army of fine ‘keepers who included the likes of Posani Sibanda, a man who some even claim is the finest ‘keeper to emerge from our country.
Matthew Mwale, Lucky Dube, Peter Nkomo, they even called him Captain Oxo, Duncan Ellison, Brenna Msiska, Peter Fanwell, Tapuwa Kapini, Energy Murambadoro, Gift Muzadzi, George Chigova, Washington Arubi and Musa Muzanenhamo.
All these men were very fine keepers and, along the way, they competed against each other in a fierce way that they managed to bring the best out of each other.
I liked Raphael Phiri simply because he played for my father’s favourite team, Rio Tinto.
He was such a calm influence between the posts we were always so sure he would repel whatever was thrown at him.
My favourite, though, was the ‘keeper of my hometown team, Chakari United, who was known as Chakumanda which, loosely translated, meant the ‘One Of/From The Graves.’
Tall, athletic and commanding, he was a once-in-a-generation talent and that he didn’t end up following David Mwanza to Rio Tinto, and national stardom, was simply because of circumstances beyond his control.
John Rugg, the legendary Rio Tinto coach who also coached the Warriors, wanted him in the domestic Premiership.
Chakumanda’s challenge was that the mine management at Chakari also wanted him to play for our local team and, in the event he chose to go to Rio Tinto, all his relatives, who were working at Chakari, would be fired.
And, sadly, there was quite an army of his family members, who were working at Chakari and, rather than compromise all of them, he decided to stay and his golden opportunity was lost.
If Chaku had been exposed to domestic Premiership football, I am pretty sure that he would have played for the Warriors and he would also have written the same beautiful story of success, which Mwanza wrote.
Sadly, Chaku is late now and the other day I decided to watch a Division Two game at Golden Valley, who are our biggest rivals in football, and was impressed by the goalkeeping skills of their ‘keeper.
After the game, I went to talk to him and I got the shock of my life when I was told that he was Chaku’s son.
The goalkeeping talent still runs in the family.
CHIPEZEZE BADLY NEEDS A BREAK FROM WARRIORS
Against such an impressive history of producing fine ‘keepers, including the first one to win the European Cup, why is it that, as a country, we are now struggling to produce good ‘keepers?
It’s a fact that the ‘keepers we have today were not cut from the same cloth that produced the likes of Mparutsa, Msiska, Muzadzi, Ellison and even, if we go a rung lower, the likes of Emmanuel Nyahuma.
If the likes of Bruce and Japhet represented the Premier League, in terms of the classification of our ‘keepers, then the crop that we have right now isn’t even Division One, not even Division Two and not even Division Three.
They are probably somewhere between Division Four and Division Five and, for many of them, they are in the Communications League or Sunday Social League category.
Right now, the truth is that we have a goalkeeping crisis when it comes to the Warriors.
Elvis Chipezeze is the ‘keeper who has been preferred by Ramon Catala in the first two games of the 2017 AFCON qualifiers but the truth is that while he is a fine guy, he is hopelessly out of depth at this level.
I’m not saying he is not a good ‘keeper.
It’s very clear, with the awards he has won in South Africa, that he is a good ‘keeper.
But, it’s one thing doing well for an obscure team in South Africa, which plays in the lower leagues and has a name, Magesi, with a similar ringing tone to the word which used to dominate our conversations during the years of load shedding.
And, it’s another thing doing well in the cauldron of the Warriors.
Goalkeeping is the most sensitive position in a football team because, while outfield players can make a mistake, and get away with it, a mistake by a ‘keeper is fatal.
A ‘keeper needs to win the confidence, and trust, of his teammates and, more importantly, the confidence, and trust, of his fans.
Chipezeze has struggled to win the trust of his fans, something that was broken with those comical blunders in that game against the DRC, at the 2019 AFCON finals.
This means that he is already under pressure, before a shot is hit in his direction, because he is worried about how his own fans will react to a genuine mistake, which every ‘keeper makes.
Psychologically, he is already carrying a burden, before even the game starts and the best psychologists will tell you that a ‘keeper, who has a lot in his head, will never perform to his expected levels.
What Chipezeze needs is a break from the Warriors, to free his mind, because the more that he is fielded, the worse the pressure he will be enduring and the worse the mistakes.
Four goals, in two opening halves of two matches, isn’t a good return.
To God Be The Glory.
Peace to the GEPA Chief, the Big Fish, George Norton, Daily Service, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and all the Chakariboys still in the struggle.
Come on Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!
Antoniooooooooooooo!
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