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Veronica Gwaze-Sports Reporter
MAKING it to the Warriors squad for CHAN Qualifiers as the only Division One player is something Tinashe Mashaireni never imagined.
The 22-year-old joined Kwekwe United on loan from reigning Castle Lager Premiership champions Ngezi Platinum Stars during the mid-season transfer window, in a move that left him reconsidering his career.
And how his call up unfolded was enough testimony of his shock.
It is a Monday morning, a fortnight ago and just like on any other day, Mashaire is ready to get down to his paces.
Dressed in his training kit, he suddenly gets a surprise call just as he is about to start training.
Everyone around him is startled when he suddenly drops his phone, gets to his knees and breaks down with emotion.
He had not only just received his first national team call-up, but God had also answered his prayers.
“At that time, I felt that my career was taking a nose dive, probably counting down to the end so I prayed, asking God to tell me if this was indeed the end,” said Mashaireni.
And donning national colours to do duty tomorrow, was out of the picture.
The Warriors are hosting Sihlangu at the Obed Itani Chilume Stadium in Francistown.
They will then travel for the return leg a few days later in South Africa where Eswatini have adopted Mbombela Stadium in Mpumalanga.
“I am still surprised, I was a tormented soul and had lost my confidence,” he said.
Prior to his call up, Mashaireni went through a roller coaster of emotions.
His move from Ngezi to Kwekwe was not something he fancied.
Barely six months after making his PSL debut, the move felt like a huge let down to himself and his grandmother, Maggie Mashaireni.
“If it were not for my grandmother, I would have not been here so everything that I do, I do it for her,” said Mashaireni.
“The only parental love I knew growing up was from gogo, I heard that my parents separated when I was an infant so she (gogo) raised me.”
Working as a nurse, the grandmother took Mashaireni through school.
His football potential was spotted at Amaveni High where he made it into the school team at Form One in 2017.
He was part of the team that played the Copa Coca Cola tournament that year to be spotted by renowned coach, Rodwell Dhlakama.
Despite his age, the coach facilitated a deal for him to move to the capital during the holidays to play for Inter-Harare.
However, his grandmother could not give him her blessings but the coach convinced her otherwise.
Mashaireni had to move in with a well-wisher who offered him accommodation in Mbare.
“It is around that time when a local team called Ajax called me to join them for the Mai Hondo tournament in Mutare,” he said.
The well-wisher funded his trip to and from Manicaland. Mashaireni was to be crowned the Best Midfielder of the tournament marking the beginning for a brighter football future.
The following year, he got a form two scholarship at Rusunguko where he later completed my Upper Six with 12 points.
After school he moved back to Mbare, playing for area zone team FC National Mbare.
“I was then asked to attend trials at Ngezi one day and surprisingly I made the cut.
“My journey is a miracle, I would struggle with boots and other provisions as my grandmother could only afford the basics but simply everything worked out.”
In 2022, he joined the Mhondoro miners’ developmental side before gaining promotion at the start of this season.
He would be thrown into the deep end during the season start where he partnered Richard Hachiro and Leslie Kashitigu in midfield.
In a surprise move in the midseason, he was loaned out to Kwekwe United.
This, he said, left him heart broken.
“That time I thought I was settling in the senior team…I thought this was the end of my career and that no one would notice me in the lower league.
“Coach Takesure Chiragwi sat me down and gave me a different perspective about the loan and I am glad I listened to him.
“The call up came as a surprise and the first people who came to my mind were gogo and my coach, I feel I have made them proud.”
The forward is the only Division One player in the CHAN Qualifiers squad.
“My grandmother kept on motivating me when I went to Kwekwe United, I was no longer confident but I kept pushing and I am happy it paid off,” he said.
“I am looking forward to game time but even if I don’t get it, I am grateful I got the chance to be in camp and learn a lot.”
Online Reporter