Let the ZIFA brawl begin!

BRA SHAKES has been under the weather for the past couple of weeks, but the Warriors back-to-back wins over Namibia in AFCON qualifiers and the latest developments at ZIFA quickened his recovery.

There is nothing like a good old adrenaline rush to shake off a stubborn bug.

The recent 3-1 win against Namibia was particularly flattering, especially after the growing criticism around the Warriors’ impotence before the match.

And the criticism was well-founded.

Before the latest goal fiesta, the Warriors had drawn two matches on the trot.

They had earlier laboured to a dull draw against Kenya in Uganda in their opening qualifier before playing a goalless draw against the Indomitable Lions.

The match against Cameroon was the third consecutive encounter in which Zimbabwe had fired blanks.

And what made expectant fans more anxious was the fact that the last time Zimbabwe had plundered in three or more goals in a game was in September 2019, when they shellacked Lesotho 3-1 in an African Nations Championship qualifier.

Worse, no player has scored a hattrick for the Warriors since Ovidy Karuru achieved the feat in the 6-0 thumping of Seychelles in a Cosafa Cup first-round match on June 30, 2017.

In the past 44 years, only four players — Karuru, Knowledge Musona, Peter Ndlovu and Vitalis Takawira — have scored hattricks for Zimbabwe.

So, scoring has been one of the major handicaps for the Warriors for a long time.

So desperate was new coach Michael Nees becoming that he actively began pursuing Knowledge Musona as a viable option to add some fodder in Zimbabwe’s weaponry.

While the inclusion of the Silent Assassin was an option that we were willing to live with, for nothing could have been worse than what was happening, it was a subtle dig on the current crop of strikers that were doing duty for Zimbabwe.

Incidentally, it was Knowledge’s younger brother, Walter, who answered in the most emphatic way possible, firing in a brace, including a superb and mesmerising volley to open his account against Namibia.

As they say, “the stone the builders rejected (in this case, were about to reject) has become the cornerstone.”

His magnificent goal was no fluke either, as he had scored another zinger of a free-kick from 30 yards out in the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers Group C encounter in Rwanda against Nigeria.

No doubt, the young man is talented, but he needs to be consistent and have a strong mentality to be prolific.

For now, the Warriors can see the promised land in their quest to reach the AFCON finals. Should they qualify, it would mark a sensational comeback for Khama Billiat, who has managed to put a sceptical Bra Shakes to shame.

Throwing down the gauntlet

It will, however, be remiss not to comment about the latest developments at ZIFA, where seismic shifts are taking place.

The seemingly lethargic ZIFA Normalisation Committee finally came up with a draft of the amended constitution on Friday, which is quite a remarkable milestone, especially considering that the constitution was last amended more than a decade ago.

But it wouldn’t have been ZIFA had Friday’s exercise not been tainted by controversy, the latest being a new clause that limits suitors for the presidency and two vice president posts to individuals who have 5 O-Level subjects.

While some view it as bad enough, it could have been worse had they made the standard insistence on two of the subjects being Maths and English. Kikikiki.

Tongues are already wagging that the clause is targeted at some individuals who have been actively canvassing for the post behind the scenes.

In the words of the Normalisation Committee chairperson Lincoln Mutasa: “The 5 O-Level requisition as adopted is there to ensure there are literate people at the top. As for players, they should also know they can play football while supplementing academics to aspire to lead ZIFA.”

Maybe they want to avoid an embarrassing repeat of the comical Felton Kamambo stutter when he almost swallowed his tongue after struggling to pronounce some figures of sums that were allocated to women’s football.

Remember that gaffe when he said: “We have allocated a total 31 mirrion (for emphasis on pronunciation), 500 000 mirrion Zimbabwean dorras . . .) Kikikiki.

Disclaimer: Bra Shakes is not saying Felton does not have 5 O-Levels.

However, in the event the new clause sails through, it will undoubtedly stop some of your favourite candidates dead in their tracks.

But the new clause is not surprising at all.

While it might be purely innocent and well-intentioned, rumours that have been doing rounds that there is an active plot to stop some characters from helming ZIFA at any cost do not help matters.

Be that as it may, the contest for the ZIFA presidency has become hotter even before it has begun.

If you add to the mix the factor of some crooked writers doing the bidding of some equally crooked candidates, it is plain to see that this will likely get interesting before long.

We might need some popcorn to see this one out.

Until next time.

Peace!

Yours Sincerely,

Bra Shakes