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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE international midfielder Blessing Sarupinda may be facing a critical moment in his career after his dream to scale the greater heights in football took a huge tumble this week.
Sarupinda suffered the ignominy of being off-loaded by South African Premiership newcomers Sekhukhune United just six months after joining the Gauteng-based side.
It must have been a disappointing turn of events for the 22-year-old, who only 12 months ago was strongly linked with a tantalising move to Portugal.
The young midfielder has only made four appearances in the Supa Disk before the Sekhukhune United technical team, led by MacDonald Makhubedu, decided on prematurely ending the marriage.
Sarupinda was among the nine players that were released by the Gauteng-based club on Wednesday. The club’s list of surplus to requirements also included compatriot, Talent Chawapiwa.
Sarupinda is now set to move to JDR Stars in the second-tier First National Division. This is a big downgrade for the Aces Youth Soccer Academy graduate, who promised so much last year and was a member of the Zimbabwe national team for the COSAFA tournament and the FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
The 22-year-old travelled to Europe at the beginning of 2020 for a three-week trial period with Portuguese third Division club Sporting Clube Olhanense but a move could not materialise following the outbreak of Covid-19.
The last coach to work with him at CAPS United, Darlington Dodo, yesterday said the midfielder needed to do a self-introspect. Dodo maintained that Sarupinda had the talent to play in the Supa Disk but may probably have not done enough to impress his new employers.
“It’s sad he was off-loaded but sometimes it all depends with the coach and the material at his disposal. When you are a foreign player you have to make a mark quickly in order to cement your place in the team.
“When he moved to South Africa we were all excited because we knew that this was a young guy with so much potential. Unfortunately, my biggest worry was that he was not playing regularly at Sekhukhune United.
“I think it affected him as a young player because he had been used to playing first team football here and then all of a sudden he goes on to spend most of his time on the bench. I am not sure why it was so but warming the bench for long periods is not good enough. I think this is a wakeup call to him as well.
“The good thing is that he is still in South Africa and has a chance to redeem himself wherever he is going to play. What it means is that he has to do self-introspection and try to find out which things he is no longer doing well.
“These are the same guys that scouted him here and they cannot just wake up to say he is not good. The fact that they signed him means there is something that they saw in him and he needs to reproduce that.
“I talk to Blessing a lot and I have been encouraging him to keep focused. I am sure he will recover from this. But it will all depends whether he was psychologically prepared for such challenges in his career.
“He is young and age is still on his side. If he manages to do well at his new club, who knows? Sekhukhune may decide to come back for him or some big clubs could also get interested. So it all depends on how he takes it,” said Dodo.
Something is also definitely wrong with former Warriors winger, Chawapiwa. Not so long ago, Chawapiwa had a promising career at Baroka where he announced his arrival with his unmatchable pace and skill on the wings.
But that promising career seems to be in the decline as he was off-loaded by Sekhukhune United just six months into his two-year contract.
This is the second time that Chawapiwa sees his contract terminated in a space of a year after his relationship with AmaZulu was also ended prematurely.
Chawapiwa had joined Babina Noko on a one-year contract with the hope of reviving his career following his disappointing season at AmaZulu where he featured only 20 times in all competitions.
He had made only made eight appearances at Sekhukhune United before the Africa Cup of Nations recess. His Zimbabwean manager, Calvin “Curry Pie” Nyazema, yesterday said Chawapiwa was not given enough time to prove himself at the club.
“It’s unfortunate it came to this. But what happened with him is that he was injured soon after his arrival at the club. Considering that this was a club that had just gained promotion, there was always high expectations for him to make an instant impact.
“We are now looking for a new team. He still had six months remaining on his contract and we have advised him to keep training. We have had enquiries from South Africa and Asia and we will see how things go,” said Nyazema.
However, his former coach at Baroka, Wedson Nyirenda, told the South African media that the Zimbabwean international has dropped his levels of performance and advised him to refocus on his career.
“I think for him; he has to refocus on himself because there are some worries as he has been to three clubs now in a very short time.
“He must just put his foot down and let him work hard on things that he is not doing well at,” Nyirenda told The Sowetan.
“I don’t know what happened at AmaZulu. I saw him play a few games and for me, he played well, but I’m also in shock for a player of Talent’s calibre to leave Sekhukhune so soon. I thought they would hold on to him.”
It was under the guidance of Nyirenda when the 29-year-old enjoyed his best form at Baroka in 2018. A move to AmaZulu in 2019 saw him struggle for game-time before joining Sekhukhune last year.
Nyirenda feels other coaches may be failing to get the best out of the midfielder.
“Let me speak for myself and no other coaches. The way I do it is to understand each player’s abilities,” he said.
“I don’t only understand the player on the pitch. I go deeper into social life outside football. Outside the pitch, I will always be harder on the players too.
“A player won’t give you anything when he is having issues. I take the players like my own children.
“He (Chawapiwa) should reflect and he must start looking at himself where he is going wrong. I have no doubt the young man will bounce back. He will rise again. This is just a phase.”
Online Reporter