Online Reporter
Robson Sharuko
Metros Editor
TWO schoolboy blunders sealed our fate on Monday night but when a comprehensive analysis is made about our latest AFCON failure, one name will loom large in the Zimbabwean conversation — TAWANDA MASWANHISE.
He arrived in the Warriors camp as one of our red-hot forwards — he was expected to be one of the first names on Mario Marinica’s team sheets, a man whose reputation was exploding in Scotland.
Having turned 23 last month, Maswanhise arrived in Morocco on a mission to show the world that his excellent performances in the Scottish Premiership were not a fluke.
This was a talent crying out for such a big stage for him.
Instead, the flawed science which Mario and his backroom staff used to pick players for the first two AFCON games in Morocco, somehow, kept Maswanhise on the bench — unused and abused.
Instead players, including some who had never played for the Warriors in a competitive game, were thrown into the deep end and, as expected, they failed to make any impression.
Amid a national outcry, Mario was forced to throw Maswanhise into the fold in the final group game against Bafana Bafana, and in just 90 minutes, he showed us why everyone was clamouring for his inclusion.
It was a special individual performance, pregnant with both pace and trickery, a swagger in every stride, a touch of class in every move and a potent threat in every run.
This was probably the finest individual performance by a Warriors forward since Peter Ndlovu scored twice, in a losing cause, as Zimbabwe went down 3-5 to Cameroon in an eight-goal thriller at the 2004 AFCON finals in Tunisia.
Maswanhise scored one of the goals of the tournament and had a big hand in the second, and on each occasion, he kept dragging his team back into the game and giving them a fighting chance for the win they needed to make history.
He also struck the upright, with keeper Ronwen Williams stranded, and missed connection with a swing after having thrust himself into a position, in the heart of the Bafana Bafana defence, to score.
His first goal was a work of art.
When he gained possession, the Bafana Bafana wall provided a hurdle which not many forwards would dream of penetrating on their own.
But that’s what Maswanhise did.
His brilliance carved open the defence, a body swerve leaving the highly-rated Mbekezile Mbokazi, who has just sealed a deal to join Chicago Fire where he will face Lionel Messi in the MLS, a heap of human flesh on the ground.
The finish was special too, hit with both power and precision and the Warriors were back in the game.
The second goal was a beauty, too.
The pass from midfield was precise, his pace meant it was a no-contest with the defender, his shot was blocked by the ‘keeper but it had enough venom to crash into a defender’s body and loop into the nets.
That he ended up on the losing side was because of the chaos in the defence, which gifted Bafana Bafana two goals, and it’s a shame that AFCON will lose such a beautiful gift at such an early stage.
And, that also brings in the big questions.
Why did Mario keep him on the bench in the first two games against Egypt and Angola?
Which science, which now looks like witchcraft, was the Romanian using which told him that players like Washington Navaya and Ishmael Wadi were better than Maswanhise?
Why didn’t Mario throw Maswanhise in, when Knowledge Musona was injured in the game against Angola, instead of Wadi, and give him the 32 minutes which the CAPS United forward was granted?
How can a player, who is one of the best forwards in the Scottish Premiership, a far better league than the domestic Premiership, be left on the bench while the local boys get Mario’s confidence not only to start but also to come in as substitutes?
How can a footballer, who has played for former English champions Leicester City, be deemed to be inferior to one who is playing for TelOne in the domestic Premiership?
Maswanhise finds himself among the five leading goal-scorers in the Scottish Premiership with his eight goals only second to the ten which Lawrence Shankland has scored for leaders Hearts.
Shankland has 1600 minutes of action, Maswanhise has just 1009 minutes.
The Zimbabwean forward has scored against championship leaders Hearts and has provided an assist against serial champions Celtic. It’s very likely he would have scored against the Pharaohs of Egypt, he is too quick and given a chance like the one Navaya fluffed because of his slow reaction, Maswanhise would have gobbled it.
It’s also very likely he would have scored against Angola and the Warriors would, at least, have gone into the final match against Bafana Bafana with four points — which virtually guarantees progress into the Round of 16.
Somehow, with such a gem in his folder, Mario decided to rely on his flawed science, which now looks like witchcraft, and by the time he decided to throw the star boy into the fray, the damage had been done.
Only God knows what this generation of Warriors would have achieved if Mario had made the right call on this special talent and let him express himself.
