admin
Sharuko On Saturday
In case you have forgotten, this year marks the 20th anniversary of the year we finally evolved from being boys to becoming men.
The 20th anniversary of the year we finally cut our milk teeth and came of age.
That was in 2004.
That was the year we made our debut at the AFCON finals, ending a nightmare which had stretched for two decades, which were dominated by collapses, at the final hurdle.
The sorry script even convinced a Ghanaian coach we had hired to try and help us to boldly tell us that even if we got a coach from the moon, we would never qualify for the AFCON finals.
His name was Ben Kouffie.
He was 84 when he died on July 4, 2016, and fate made sure he would live to see us not only take part at the AFCON finals but do so on two occasions.
A month before his death, we had sealed our place at our third Nations Cup finals, with a game to spare, after we thrashed Malawi 3-0 at the National Sports Stadium on June 5, 2016.
Given the momentous significance of our maiden AFCON show, one would have expected our football leaders to remember that landmark year when we finally became true Warriors.
So, at least, I would have expected them to mark the 20th anniversary in some special way – probably get a special commemorative kit of the L-Sporto kit we used in Tunisia.
Boy, oh boy, it was beautiful, probably the best kit we have used, and it helped us announce our arrival on the big stage with a very big bang.
They could even have produced a documentary for those boys who became men to help the latest generation of Warriors fans to get a glimpse of the sights and sounds of that beautiful adventure.
It would have helped them appreciate what it means when we say Peter Ndlovu is the greatest Warrior of all-time as the documentary would have captured the moment he became the first Zimbabwean footballer to score a goal at the AFCON finals.
That came just a minute into the second half of our opening game against Egypt, as King Peter thrust us into the lead, before the Pharaohs scored twice to win the match 2-1.
Yet, the whole script would have been very different had substitute Wilfred Mugeyi not frozen, when it mattered most, and chosen precision, instead of power, when presented with a gilt-edge chance at the end of the game.
But, that doesn’t make him less of a hero when compared to the other pioneers who featured for the Warriors in that tournament and came out with their heads held high despite crashing out in the group stages.
Three goals against Cameroon in the next game, in a 3-5 losing cause, was a demonstration of both their quality and the recklessness brought by their inexperience at that level of the game.
A 2-1 victory over Algeria, in our final game of the season, would have been a fitting closing chapter for that documentary because, in a way, it would have also celebrated the contribution of Adam Ndlovu.
He scored in that match and, amid the celebrations, little did we know that in just a dozen years, Adam would be the first to die among that pioneering group.
Charles Yohane is the only other member of that group to die and, like Adam, his death was tragic after he was carjacked and shot dead in Soweto.
WHAT A BEAUTIFUL SECOND HALF SHOW
Soweto was also the setting for the historic first game, which the Warriors played at home away from home, when they took on Namibia at Orlando Stadium on Monday evening.
Their swashbuckling performance, en-route to an impressive 3-1 win, would have been a fitting tribute to Charlie and to remind those killers that they can take away one of us but they can’t destroy the special spirit that makes us Warrior.
That second half performance by the Warriors, as if they had suddenly been pumped with some special performance enhancing steroids, was as good as I have seen them play both as a fan and as a journalist.
What comforted me a lot was that this was by no means a one-man show but this was a team playing to the true potential of the sum of its units and, even though Walter Musona scored twice, he wasn’t the man-of-the-match.
That honour belonged to Jordan Zemura, who kept flying down the wing, with the kind of vintage performance which, fans of a certain age and generation, will tell you evoked memories of a man they nicknamed Flying Saucer.
His name was Oliver Kateya and, like Charles Yohane, also suffered a tragic death.
Charlie used to play down that left channel and the more I saw Jordan fly down that same wing on Monday, the more I kept telling myself the football gods were sending a message to those ruthless killers who cut short Yohane’s life.
It’s fair to say that Jordan had, until his explosion on Monday, failed to really show us he is very, very special.
But, once he got going on Monday night, he was simply unstoppable and it felt so beautiful to see the Jordan we have seen in Serie A, finally replicating his form for his country.
I never doubted Jordan Zemura because I know that players don’t just end up playing in the English Premiership and Italian Serie A by chance but by the power of their athletic talents.
Jordan appears to be a better weapon in attack and you have to give credit to Michael Nees for seeing that quite quickly.
In both games, his presence deep in the trenches of our team’s attack were crucial in winning us penalties, which were crucial in us winning those matches.
But, we could also give the man-of-the-match to Andy Rinomhota, the unsung hero of the team, a man who lets his football do the talking.
You are unlikely to notice his immense contribution if you don’t analyse the game very well.
Andy is what is called an effective footballer and he reminds me of Roy Keane, when Manchester United used to be a proper football club, before it was transformed into this Dutch flea market.
Unless we were playing Arsenal, where he tended to pick fights with Patrick Vieira, it was very likely you would not see the importance of Keane in our team.
But, on the occasions he didn’t make the team, that gaping hole in midfield would quickly remind you that Manchester United were missing a very key member of the team.
THE CLASS OF 2024
Maybe the football gods had already come up with this script that, in the year that we mark the 20th anniversary of the year we made our AFCON debut, a coach we battled against on our way to Tunisia would become a part of our story.
His name is Michael Nees.
He was in charge of the Seychelles back then and they were in our qualifying group.
I’m sure Michael knew the chances of him taking the Seychelles to the AFCON finals were as slim as expecting that you can MaBlanyo telling us that he would have been in the CAF group games if Dynamos had a different man as its leader.
He was just trying to find his way in African football although his subsequent jobs appeared to suggest that he was more suited to be the teacher of coaches, as a technical director, than leading the line on the bench.
I doubted his capacity because I felt that at 57, he should have taken a team to the AFCON finals by now and not to try and get there, for the first time, in our company.
But, that is the beauty of football.
It’s a sport that proves wrong some of its leading analysts and wasn’t it Alan Hansen, one of the game’s best analysts of all-time, who said that Alex Ferguson was never going to win anything with kids?
Well, history has already recorded that Fergie’s kids did not only go on to win something but they went on to dominate English football and, at the turn of the millennium, turned themselves into champions of Europe again.
Michael has charmed me with his attention to detail and I like coaches whose teams improve after the break because that tells you that the coach would have been reading the game.
Michael also appears to be a humble man who is not seized with milking the moment when his team wins, but stays rooted to the ground knowing that tougher battles will come.
He appears to respect the journalists, which is refreshing to me, and his answers at the media conferences tell the story of a man who wants to be the dominant figure in the story.
The way he keeps changing his team has impressed me and, if Michael picks, at least a point against Kenya, he will make history as the first Warriors gaffer to take the team to AFCON without playing a game at home.
Twenty years ago, when we arrived at the 2004 AFCON, the only loss we suffered in the qualifiers was at the hands of Michael’s Seychelles in Victoria.
It was a strange defeat for us but a defeat all the same.
Adam Ndlovu scored that goal for us in a 1-2 defeat.
There was a time when Soweto was also a home for Adamsk when he was on the books of Moroka Swallows.
That’s quite a long time ago.
But, if we seal our 2025 AFCON qualification in Soweto against Kenya, there is no doubt that we would have honoured the memories of both Adam and Charlie.
Move on Class of 2004.
We now have Michael and his Class of 2024.
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Khamaldhinoooooooooooooooooo!, Text Feedback: 0772545199, WhatsApp: 0772545199, Email: [email protected]
You can also interact with me on the ZTV football programme, Game Plan, where I join the legendary Charles “CNN” Mabika on Wednesdays
Online Reporter