Sharuko on Saturday
WHAT a week it has been — Mongameli Tshuma showed us, once again, why he should be the Soccer Star of the Year, fittingly, on the grand occasion of Highlanders’ Centurion Celebrations.
A furious Scott threatened to walk away from domestic football and Kelvin Kaindu moved closer to finally becoming a league championship-winning coach.
Ironically, all of this might not happen.
Mongameli, controversially left out of the Warriors squad earlier this week, in what looked like a decision plucked from hell, might not end up winning the Soccer Star of the Year crown.
Scott might eventually be persuaded by his closest aides to let his anger subside and use the off-season to cool down.
They will probably tell him that it’s not the time to walk away from his massive investment, which includes a stadium under construction in Mabvuku, and a sports villa, which has been completed.
They will probably tell him that true Warriors, especially those who grew up the tough way in the ghetto, where birthdays were the worst days before things changed to where they now drink champagne when they are thirsty, don’t quit.
And, that he should not follow the footsteps of Sheaham owner, Clever Mandaza, who dissolved his team and walked away from football, after being frustrated by how Hardrock beat them to the Division One league title.
Kaindu, domestic football’s ultimate gentleman, now stands on the threshold of glory, and everything could come to pass today in the little mining town of Shamva.
The odds are firmly staked in Kaindu’s favour. A win today at Simba Bhora effectively wins it for him and, such is his advantage, he might not need that victory and a defeat will still be enough if Scottland fail to beat Herentals at Rufaro.
Today, Kaindu, a Prayer Warrior, will be hoping that the football gods finally smile at him.
In a domestic Premiership that has been clouded by negativity, the Zambian preacher comes across as one of the few good guys, a true gentleman, a God-fearing man who now stands on the threshold of glory after many heartbreaks in the past.
He is the only coach, in the history of the domestic Premiership, to lose only one game all season, but fail to win the league championship.
He is the only coach, in the history of the domestic Premiership, to lose consecutive league title races despite his team, on both occasions, finishing the season with the highest number of points, matching the team which eventually won the title.
Kaindu, himself, also knows that, too.
Highlanders were in charge of the 2013 race, going into the penultimate race of the season, only for Kaindu to endure a nightmare at Rufaro in a 0-4 thrashing at the hands of Harare City.
That big loss, in a weekend in which DeMbare were held to a 2-2 draw by Chicken Inn, changed everything and, the following week, the Glamour Boys were champions, by virtue of a superior goal difference, over Bosso.
Amazingly, if Bosso had limited the damage to a 0-1 defeat against Harare City, they would have been champions.
Now Kaindu is on the verge of sealing his immortality by becoming the first foreign coach, of African descent, to lead a side to the league championship in the era of the domestic Premiership.
In the unlikely event that this race gives us another cruel twist today, and is decided by goal difference with Scottland, somehow, holding on to their trophy, Kaindu will become the first coach, in the history of football in the world, to lose three championship races on goal difference.
If we were going to run a national poll, asking football fans around the country, including neutrals, who is the coach they wanted to win the league title, it’s likely Kaindu’s name would have topped the list.
There is something about him that makes him a likeable fellow, which enables him to appeal to many people, in a game which is littered with divisions.
KAINDU ON THE THRESHOLD OF GOLD AND GLORY BUT….
I met Kaindu at Rufaro on Wednesday during the match between Scottland and Chicken Inn and, despite some fans singing his name, he remained an oasis of humility, in a sea of chaos.
He said it’s never over, until it’s over.
And, he is right.
The penultimate weekend in the domestic Premiership is always dangerous.
That was the case during the 2013 race and, amazingly, if Bosso had limited the damage to a 0-1 defeat against Harare City, in the game they lost 0-4, they would have been champions.
And, Kaindu would have been a championship-winning coach a long time ago.
There is an unwritten golden rule in our Premiership that, in the event the title race is decided by goal difference, the winning team has to come from Harare.
That was the case in 1983 when Dynamos ended with the same points tally as Rio Tinto, in 1995, when DeMbare ended with the same points tally as Blackpool, it was a Harare affair.
And in 2011, 2012 and 2013, when the Glamour Boys ended with the same number of points as FC Platinum and Kaindu’s Highlanders, in two consecutive seasons, the title went to the capital.
Kaindu knows he can’t chance fate again this season.
Whatever happens now, Kaindu will still win the Coach of the Year gong.
He has earned it with the work he has done at a club which is just new in the domestic Premiership and which, at key moments, struck in the dying embers of the game.
One of his best players has been Washington Navaya, who was chosen as the Soccer Star of the Year, when Emmanuel Jalai and Kevin Moyo were odds on favourites.
MONGAMELI, THE BALLON D’OR, THE POISONED CHALICE
There was a time when a team, which wins the league championship, usually provided the man who walks away with the most prestigious individual award in domestic football.
Then, AmaZulu won the league in 2003, and the Soccer Star of the Year award went to CAPS United ‘keeper Energy Murambadoro.
Highlanders won the league, three years later, and the award went to Clemence Matawu of Motor Action.
Twenty years later, despite the passage of time, Honour Gombami, the best player on the domestic front that season, must still be struggling to make sense as to why he didn’t win the award.
But, then, he isn’t the only Bosso player wondering why he didn’t get his hand on the local Ballon d”Or.
The great Madinda Ndlovu didn’t win it despite being one of the dominant players during the golden age of the domestic Premiership in the ‘80s.
His younger brother Adam Ndlovu, who was good enough to attract the attention of Sir Alex Ferguson to give him a trial at Old Trafford, only for the great Scott to choose Eric Cantona, instead, didn’t win the same award.
Neither did Rahman Gumbo, the man they called Dr Rush, so silk, so elegant, so deadly, a number of Golden Boot awards in the trophy cabinet he left behind but never the Golden Ball.
Only four Highlanders men – Mercedes Sibanda, Peter Ndlovu (twice), Zenzo Moyo and Dazzy Kapenya – have won the local version of the Ballon d’Or in the 57 years the award has been given out.
That’s at an average of one Bosso player every 14 years.
That is not a true reflection of what Highlanders players have given to the national game over the years, and it’s an insult to the great service they have given to local football.
Somehow, Washington Navaya needed to leave Bosso for the selectors to finally see that he was a good player who should be crowned Soccer Star of the Year.
He was playing for TelOne last season and he took the crown without his team winning the league championship.
That’s where the argument of those singing Mongameli’s name comes in because they are also saying Bosso didn’t need to win the league for the midfielder to have credentials for the crown.
For Bosso, with all the challenges they have had all season, to get into the Chibuku Super Cup final, is a massive achievement on its own.
The irony is that the Soccer Star of the Year award could go to Prince Dube, whose arrival at Hardrock, midway during the campaign, changed everything.
And, again, history will record that he had to move away from Bosso to capture the crown. Ironically, Mongameli is moving to Hardrock next season, to join Kaindu and company, and if he doesn’t win it this year, he could win it next year.
And, once again, history will record that he had to move away from Bosso to capture the crown.
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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