IN the end it was a goal, JUST A SINGLE GOAL, which stood between Bigboy Mawiwi and a step into the boulevard of champions

It was all gone, in 90 minutes that had initially promised heaven and earth plus a bit of the paradise islands dotted around the globe, Harare City consumed by their sheer capacity to self-destruct when the rainbow of glory loomed on the horizon, and like a candle in the wind, their light blown away to leave a mist of darkness that enveloped everyone at the club from the shell-shocked chairman to the disbelieving kitman.

ON a Super Sunday that brought rain, tears and lots of drama, all that stood between Bigboy Mawiwi and a step into the boulevard of champions, after all the madness had ended, was a goal — JUST A SINGLE GOAL.

By the time he regained his composure, all he could see was that it was the usual suspects who were standing on the winners’ podium and this wasn’t a cruel dream but reality.

For Mawiwi, Sunday’s events provided a painful reminder of how cruel this game, which Pele somehow called the most beautiful game in the world, can be — the fine margins that separate winners and losers and how it quickly turns its back on those who would have failed the test and swiftly forgets them as if they didn’t exist.

After a week spent bathing in the spotlight of colourful back pages that promised a happy ending — a tomorrow that would bring gold and all the glitters that come with it, the reality check, when it came — was as brutal as it was painful as Mawiwi and his men were mocked on tabloid front pages as not only pretenders but a useless bunch of chokers.

Success has many fathers, they tell us, but failure is an orphan and on their isolated island where they nursed their depression on Sunday evening, as they began to comprehend the magnitude of their failure, it started to sink that what had promised to be a red-letter season had delivered nothing but just third place.

Certainly, it’s not something that people can care to remember five years from now because there is nothing special in finishing in third place.

Chicken Inn did it last year, no one talked about it this year, Njube Sundowns did it in 2008, some people have already forgotten they existed, Masvingo United did it in 2007, no one cares to remember that because when it comes to Yuna Yuna, they talk about 2005, when they blew a golden chance to be champions at Mucheke.

How many of us still remember that Joshua Mhizha was the coach of that Sundowns team that finished in third place in 2007 or that earlier that season they even replaced technical adviser Gibson Homela and head coach Dan Ndlovu and appointed Ronald Sibanda and Danisa Phiri as caretaker coaches?

The truth is that in this cruel game, very little attention is given to those who don’t come first.

Mawiwi and his men had all their aces and jokers in their hands when they woke up on Sunday, they could smell the expectancy of a nation that wanted to join them in their moment of triumph, and when they opened the Sunday newspapers, all they could see were images, and words, in which they were being feted as kings.

Where the term City had been the exclusive identity for a team from Manchester that has a history of being noisy neighbours who have a tendency of splashing their feelings on billboards, now the term also represented a team that hunted in the jungles of domestic football.

But, where the City of England ensured the blue touch paper was well and truly lit, by finding a way to come back from a 1-2 deficit, in their biggest game in a generation against Queens Park Rangers on that unforgettable day on May 13 last year, to score twice in time added on and win the championship in dramatic fashion, the City of Harare froze on the big stage.

Where there were people on the pitch at the Etihad celebrating the end of 44 years of waiting, 44 years of being mocked by their neighbours, 44 years of torture inside that they kept hiding with plastic smiles that hid souls battered by perennial failure, there was none at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday as the City of Harare digested their doomed mission.

It was all gone, in 90 minutes that had initially promised heaven and earth plus a bit of the paradise islands dotted around the globe, a club consumed by its sheer capacity to self-destruct when the rainbow of glory loomed on the horizon, and like a candle in the wind, its light blown away to leave a mist of darkness that enveloped everyone at the club from the shell-shocked chairman to the disbelieving kitman.

All the appetite for success they had shown in their previous match, in that 4-0 demolition of Highlanders at Rufaro, evaporated in the tension of the occasion, their ambitions betrayed by their lack of guts to turn themselves from boys to men, their dreams blown away in that cauldron of pressure where those without steel frames melted.

Whether City can recover from this cruel knock-out blow, only time will tell, but their failure on Sunday should not erase all the good things they did this season — gaining 14 points from the tally they raked in last year, winning as many games as the eventual champions Dynamos (14), drawing as many games as the champions (12), losing as many games as the champions (four) and scoring as many goals as the champions (43).

They gave Harare a positive spin, away from the depressing stories in the newspapers about potholes that can’t be repaired, garbage that can’t be collected with regularity, litter that pollutes our streets, water that doesn’t always drop from our taps, you name it,.

Even though few will remember them for coming third this year, they played their part in the entertainment package.

A Good Name Is More Important Than A Fortune
In the countdown to Super Sunday, former Shooting Stars chairman, Lewis Matindife, screamed on his Facebook page that CAPS United should be guided by the principle that a good name was worth far more than anything that money can buy.
The Green Machine found themselves in the position of kingmakers and that CAPS United didn’t send in a second-string or under-strength side, which would easily have been overrun by City throwing the outcome of matches at Rufaro and Barbourfields into irrelevancy, was a credit to the club.

The Green Machine management and technical team created a host of enemies, including within their camp, as some of their fans didn’t want to be seen aiding the triumph of teams they consider their main rivals.

But the price was worth paying in pursuit of integrity.

No one will buy Joe Makuvire, the CAPS United chief executive, a beer for laying down the law at his team that for all the challenges they have faced it was important that they battle for their pride on Super Sunday, and let nature take its course, because such acts of honour are rarely feted with earthly presents.

Just like Prince Matore directing his relegated Motor Action to play for their name and somehow inspiring them to hold Highlanders and Harare City in two crucial games, which would have a huge bearing on the destiny of the race, what Mangwiro and his men did on Super Sunday will quickly be forgotten.

But you can’t put a price to integrity, that’s why they said it’s priceless, and when you do something that is right, even if you don’t get what you really wanted, you can sleep peacefully without having to deal with a rebellious conscience asking you, every minute, why you dumped your principles.

Given all the financial challenges that stalked the CAPS United players this season, for them to rise, in the game that mattered most, and fly the flag of Fair Play so proudly, was one of the most enduring images of the championship and while, in the short-term, they might not reap rewards, life has its way of honouring its heroes.

It’s in moments like these that clubs can sell their brand to real investors and I won’t be surprised if, within the next weeks or months, we hear that CAPS United have tied a deal with a flagship sponsor, the way Dynamos and Highlanders did with BancABC, because corporates have a soft heart for sporting franchises that uphold the principles of Fair Play.

CAPS United would have finished fourth, if they had won on Super Sunday, and Makuvire told me that breaking the 50-point barrier would have put their giant leap forward, this season, into context but while, ultimately, they didn’t get past 50 points, what they did on Super Sunday was worth more than fourth place and 50 points put together.

Fate has a unique way of rewarding those who stand up for something that is more than their cause and eight years ago Dynamos found themselves in a similar position, in the last 10 minutes of their final league match against a championship-chasing Masvingo United at Mucheke.

With DeMbare’s place in the Premiership guaranteed irrespective of the result, as news filtered through that Njube Sundowns had crashed 0-5 at Motor Action, some of their fans at Mucheke started cheering Masvingo United, itching for their team to lose so that the home team could be crowned champions at the expense of CAPS who were losing 0-3 at the National Sports Stadium to Black Rhinos.

The Mucheke game, having been held up by rain, finished later than the other matches and, with all the permutations now clear, and minutes still to be played, the drama and tension in the stands was unbearable.

Moses Chunga and his men, to their eternal credit, refused to be dragged into the nest of exploding emotions, where there was little room for reason and everything was guided by the foolish rallying cry that “it’s CAPS United, we should never do them a favour,” and destroyed Masvingo United’s dreams with a 2-1 win that also helped the old enemy win the championship.

Two years later, the gods of football repaid them with the championship, their first in 10 years, and DeMbare have won three more league championships since that triumph in 2007 and, for upholding the values of Fair Play on Super Sunday, CAPS United will get their fair rewards, no doubt about that.

For Kaindu, This Could Be The Breakthrough
Kelvin Kaindu has coached for two years in Zimbabwe, on both occasions his team finished level on points with the champions but on each occasion they were beaten to the crown on goal difference.

Today, the Zambian gaffer takes his troops into battle hoping to give Highlanders their first major trophy since Bosso were champions seven years ago and while nothing can be guaranteed, in the derby against plucky How Mine, Kaindu knows that winning the Mbada Diamonds Cup could provide the breakthrough he has been looking for.

There is nothing wrong with Kaindu’s Bosso team and the mere fact that no team finished better than them, in terms of points tally in the past two seasons, is testimony of the fact that they are up there with the very best that can be found in this country.

What Kaindu’s men lack, which has been their downfall in the past two years, is big-match temperament, and that they failed to win against their main rivals – Dynamos and CAPS United – this year buttresses that point.

In the past two years, when provided with a do-or-die situation, Bosso have come short – against Monomotapa at Rufaro last year (0-3), against Dynamos at Barbourfields this year (0-1), against Harare City at Rufaro two weeks ago (0-4).

The more they have failed in the big games, the more they have questioned their temperament to make that giant leap of faith and, as psychologists will tell you, that could turn into a serious problem because, whenever the pressure rises, the players start to doubt themselves.

However, that can all change with success, like winning the country’s premier knock-out football tournament, and once they realise that they, too, can win big trophies, it begins to bring down that psychological barrier, in their minds, and recharges their batteries for future battles.

You get this feeling that fate owes Kaindu a big favour, after the emotional torture that he has suffered in the past two years where he has come close to winning the championship, only to be defeated by goal difference, and if he wins the Mbada Diamonds Cup today, very few will argue that he doesn’t deserve this breakthrough triumph.

I don’t know whether there is a better gentleman, in our national game, than the Highlanders coach and if this game really has a soul then, at times, it should ensure that good guys sometimes come first and you can feel the goodwill, pouring for Kaindu to succeed, although How Mine, having performed all those giant-killing acts, will be a tough act.

You Have To Take A Bow For The Last Men Standing
Callisto Pasuwa carved his name into the history books as the first coach to win three domestic Premiership titles on the trot and, given the abuse he has faced from those who doubt him, you feel he has received due rewards for his calmness, a religious dedication to his work, his ability to keep himself far away from controversy and, even after his success stories, he still remains that down-to-earth guy next door.

That good fellow who says it best when he says nothing at all.

But it’s very unlikely that Pasuwa would have scripted this beautiful and successful chapter in his coaching career if he wasn’t in charge of Dynamos because, for all the technical and tactical issues that he has taken care of, the point remains that there is something mystical about this club that powers it to another level when the time comes to separate men from boys.

How they have negotiated their way out of the tightest of corners, doing it again and again over a period of 50 years, showing their true qualities when nobody gives them a chance and rising, like a phoenix that dwarfs everything, when everyone is about to write the epitaph for their tombstone has been as remarkable as it has been awesome.

Yes, you have to give credit, and lots of it, to Pasuwa because we have seen a number of coaches come there and fail to make an impact.

But I’m certain that I’m not the only one who also believes that if he was in charge of any other team, which is not Dynamos, the Miracle of Mandava two years ago might not have happened, the Bomb at Barbourfields against Bosso this year, when it was a win or nothing, would not have exploded, that miraculous comeback against Chicken Inn in Bulawayo, a point grabbed at Triangle when all looked lost that turned into gold, all that pressure they piled on their rivals even when they were a world away, think about it.

And have you realised that it’s now almost a curse to play Dynamos in the first league match of the season since the turn of the millennium — it means you will be relegated, if not that season then pretty soon afterwards.

Only two teams — CAPS United and Eastern Lions — played DeMbare in the first game of the season in the past 14 seasons and survived relegation, but just, as the Green Machine ended with the same number of points as relegated Masvingo United and Lancashire Steel, who went into the relegation play-off and never came back, in 2008 when Makepekepe’s first game was against Dynamos.

Eastern Lions, after playing Dynamos in the first game of the season, survived relegation by goal difference the same year and by a point the following season before abandoning the project and selling their franchise to Bantu Rovers.

Others, unfortunately, were not so lucky and these are the teams that played Dynamos in the first game of the season, since the turn of the millennium, and what became of their fate:

2000, Buffaloes — relegated the following season; 2001, Shabanie — relegated five years later; 2002, Railstars — relegated SAME season; 2003, Rhinos — relegated four years later; 2004, Saints — relegated SAME season; 2005, Masvingo — relegated three years later; 2006, Shooting Stars – relegated 2011; 2007, Eastern Lions — survived relegation by goal difference same season, survived by a point the following year and sold their franchise;.

2008, CAPS United — finished with the same number of points as relegated Masvingo United and Lancashire Steel, who went into relegation play-off and never came back; 2009, Underhill — relegated SAME season; 2010, Gunners — fixtured to play Dynamos in first game but Glamour Boys didn’t show up, match rescheduled, two years later they were relegated; 2011, Kiglon — relegated SAME season; 2012, Hardbody — relegated SAME season; 2013, Mambas — relegated SAME season.

To God Be The Glory!
Come on United!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chicharitoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

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