admin
Tadious Manyepo-Sports Reporter
MARSHAL Machazane’s mind is spinning.
Back and forth.
It’s awkward. He is staring at an unwanted record. The ultimate disgrace.
He might become the first Dynamos captain to lead the team to relegation.
In exactly 55 years of their existence, the Glamour Boys have rarely been in this 2018 mire. Only in 2004, at the height of their usual ownership wrangles, did they slid that low.
But, somehow they found a way, in a rain-soaked Mucheke Stadium in Masvingo, to save themselves when posting an unlikely last match-day 2-1 victory over title-aspirants Masvingo United.
Elliot Matsika and Zambian import Clive Mwale were the heroes in that survival chapter. And 14 years later, this Glamour Boys crop, under the tutelage of Lloyd “Mablanyo” Chigowe, himself roped in to save the situation, need their own heroes.
Machazane wakes up earlier than usual. At around 5am.
He reaches out for his phone. It’s heavy. Thousands of texts on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger prop up. He reads them. One by one. He doesn’t have sufficient strength to respond to all of them.
They are pleas from the DeMbare faithful, most of whom Machazane hasn’t met physically. “For once I realised Dynamos are not only followed by multitudes of people but they are also loved a lot,” said Machazane.
“One of the messages said Marshy and your boys, please don’t let the team get relegated.
“Some messages were not from Dynamos fans but from football lovers in general. I could feel the love and the pressure too.”
Dynamos are only two points above safety. Hours later, they play army side Black Rhinos at Rufaro.
They need the full points. Desperately.
Dynamos supporters haven’t turned their backs on the team.
They show up in numbers. This is an hour the players need them the most.
The giants start brightly.
They ask the early questions with both territorial and possession dominance.
They soon get the reward.
Speedster Valentine Kadonzvo delivers the lead 25 minutes into the game. Heads above water, the supporters break into song and dance. Everything goes their team’s way in that opening half.
But Black Rhinos are never pushovers. They throw firm punches for the rest of the second phase. The Glamour Boys turn defensive. Errors are inevitable and they concede a lot of free-kicks. Black Rhinos are unable to perfectly execute those dead balls. But nine minutes before the end of the encounter, Tapiwa Sibanda makes it count.
The game is headed for a draw. That’s a disastrous blow for Dynamos. Machazane reflects on the messages he went through in his phone early in the day. Something has to happen. Time is running out.
The unit has been forced out of their shell.
They throw everything upfront though proper methods are amiss. In one of the forays, they win a corner kick. Right at the death. A last chance saloon.
Supporters on the edge of their seats.
Machazane rushes forward, to aid the attack. Emmanuel Mandiranga whips an in-swinger. It’s a difficult ball. It falls for Machazane who is flat-footed.
He can’t spring to head it in. He decides to dice it around. Then fists the ball past Ashley Reyners’ goal. The handball is evident. Detected by everyone, including the Dynamos fans themselves, who make a booming celebration of the “goal” nonetheless. Machazane wheels to the corner flag, with his teammates in tow.
Referee Josiah Masimira is standing on the edge of the box. All eyes on him. He signals for a goal. Black Rhinos players protest. But nothing comes out. Dynamos pocket the maximum points. ”Hand of God”. Machazane is nicknamed “Diego Maradona” in the aftermath, in reference to the late Argentine legend and captain who scored with his hand in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final match against England in Mexico.
Dynamos move five points clear of relegation to ease the nerves. They eventually survive. And Machazane can never forget the moment.
Zimbabwe’s own “Hand of God” owner.
But the goal against Black Rhinos wasn’t the only time Machazane needed ”The hand of God”. The Heavenly God.
The creator of Heaven and Earth.
Machazane had literally thrown in the towel in 2013. He didn’t want to come back into the game.
While on off season, enjoying his holidays in South Africa, the car he was travelling in with a friend called Menziwa veered off the road due to limited visibility in a mist-engulfed Nelspruit town. It hit a side barricade, rolled over and left its occupants, including Machazane, critically injured.
The 37-year-old doesn’t really remember what took place for the three weeks that followed as he was subconscious in hospital.
For the six months that followed, Machazane was walking with the aid of clutches.
“I literally resigned from the game. Look, I was carrying bodily injuries and to think of playing football was a worst of emotions. So I just decided that I was done.
“Before the accident, I was playing in the eSwatini (formerly Swaziland) Premiership,” he said. “Instead of thinking about a football career, I was mostly concerned with my life.
“I was grateful God had spared my life. I saw the hand of God.”
His recovery was miraculous. Lloyd Mutasa convinced him that he could play football again.
But Machazane scoffed at the mere suggestions. “I felt like he was just trying to give me some confidence to live with. I was still feeling the pain and I didn’t like anything to do with football anymore.
“But Samaita (Mutasa) insisted I try to return.” That’s how he made a rebound after Mutasa signed him at WhaWha.
“I think Machazane still has what it takes to compete at the highest level. We have him as one of the players at WhaWha and we are expecting that he will show the way for the youngsters we have at the team,” Mutasa told the media then.
And after a stint with the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services, Mutasa took Machazane to Dynamos in 2016.
He would move to Harare City before joining CAPS United last year to bookmark a remarkable career.
“To have been one of the few players who have seen action with Dynamos, CAPS United and Highlanders is a good feeling. I am very grateful,” said Machazane.
Yet the near fatal accident in South Africa wasn’t the only threat to his footballing career.
This is a boy who was also fingered in the Asiagate scandal and he admitted there was a time he felt the scandal was going to put a stop to his profession.
This is a boy who could have even left the game before launching his career due to hardships he faced while growing up in Bulawayo.
“It wasn’t easy growing up. I remember I had to walk from Magwegwe North to Barbourfields Stadium, a distance of about 15km every Tuesday and Friday for training, first Sunrise Football Academy coached by ex-Highlanders assistant Philani Mabhena and then with Highlanders Juniors. I wanted to be a successful footballer.
“And the greatest advantage I had was that there were a number of players whom we used to walk with. These guys include the likes of Eric Mudzingwa, Patrick Mpofu, Kundishora Chakanyuka, Peter ‘Rio’ Moyo and Arnold Majaivana among others.”
Together with Mudzingwa, Obadiah Tarumbwa, Zephaniah Ngodzo and Brighton Dube, Machazane was promoted from the junior ranks in 2005 and he played a key role in Bosso’s championship winning act in 2006.
Now pursuing coaching, majoring in performance analysis, to which he has had access to Spanish La Liga giants Barcelona’s philosophy, Machazane feels he is a blessed lot and wants to record more success stories.
Against the odds, as has always been the case in his 18-year footballing career.
Online Reporter