dyton mupawaenda
Bruce Chikuni-Sports Reporter
NGEZI Platinum Stars goalkeeper, Chang Mariyoni, has disclosed why he was given a “Chinese” name.
Apparently his late father was into martial arts and he only hoped that the goalkeeper would bail the family out of poverty through sport.
The father even went as far as naming Chang’s siblings Cheng, Wang and Weng just to show how deep he was into martial arts.
Eking a living out of football was not even in Chang’s wildest dreams as he was also obsessed with martial arts.
However, the day he was invited to play football with his friends birthed his passion for the game.
“I spent the better part of my childhood doing martial arts and my father was convinced that I was going to make ends meet through karate.
“Things were really tough, I remember many times we would eat porridge for supper.
“But, one day I had nothing to do at home and my friends insisted that I should join them as they were a man short to play their match and they said I should play as a keeper since I have a big body.
“After the match, they were all mad at me saying I was wasting talent. They were impressed by my performance as a goalkeeper and that’s when I started playing football,” said Mariyoni.
But, his father took it as a joke and he normalised punishing him each time he would sneak out to play football.
“My father never took what was being said about my ability to play as a goalie seriously, for him, martial arts was the only way out of poverty.
“I kept insisting until he started to believe in what was being said about me,” he said.
The Mutare-born goalie was discovered by coach Lizwe Sweswe in 2010 during Youth Games and he finally made his PSL breakthrough in 2015 as he was part of the crop which got Tsholotsho promoted into the top-flight.
The 28-year-old later joined Triangle after the collapse of Tsholotsho and now Nelson Chadya’s understudy during his stay at Mhondoro side.
Mariyoni grabbed his chance with both hands when Chadya went with the national team for a challenge match against Botswana in Gaborone.
He made his presence felt as Ngezi Platinum powered into the Chibuku Super Cup semi-finals with some brilliant saves in what was his first start since joining the club last season.
And, coach Takesure Chiragwi, will surely have a headache in choosing the man who will guide the goalposts when they square up against Black Rhinos at Bata this Saturday.
Online Reporter