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Eddie Chikamhi
Senior Sports Reporter
DYNAMOS coach Tonderai Ndiraya believes teenage sensation Bill Antonio needs to be exposed to more domestic football so that he will be ripe by the time he embarks on his dream to play in Europe.
The 19-year-old from Dzivarasekwa, who graduated from Prince Edward High School last year, has been on a fast ascent in the Castle Lager Premiership where he has made his presence felt following a couple of exceptional performances.
The young winger recently has impressed his coach Ndiraya and has been getting rave reviews in the media in the last few weeks. Antonio apparently is sitting on an invite from Belgian side KV Mechelen before he even clocked 10 Castle Lager Premiership matches in his debut top-flight season.
Ndiraya, however, hopes the whirlwind pace with which things have been happening around the ex-schoolboy would not affect his game.
“Officially, it hasn’t come to me so I wouldn’t want to comment on that,” said Ndiraya about the KV Mechelen invite.
“I saw that in the newspapers and I will be very happy for the boy if that is true. I’m so happy for him. But it is still to get to me officially. However, what is important is for the boy to be consistent in his performances.
“He is doing well. So far he has done so well but these are only a few matches we’ve played in the season. As a coach, I would’ve really love him to play more games and get more experience before he goes abroad.
“I feel that he is still learning. He hasn’t really gotten to a stage where you think he is ripe for the European market; I want to be honest.
“But what’s good about Europe is that if he goes there, with the level he is at the moment, we are sure that he will be developed further. He would be in a very good system, which would develop him into the player we all want him to be.”
Ndiraya urged Antonio to be mindful of getting swallowed by the media limelight and to keep working hard on his game.
“He has been progressing quite well. Hopefully, he can keep himself grounded, keep working (hard) the way he has been doing. He has been subjected to a lot of publicity in the past weeks which I feel as his coach is not really good for him.
“Of course, publicity is good but sometimes it turns out to affect these young players. So being a leader, as he is, he has really maintained his cool, has kept on working hard and has kept on doing what he has been doing before, which is really quite encouraging.
“We also continue to encourage him to keep a cool head and continue working hard so that he can keep progressing, the way he has been doing in the past weeks,” said Ndiraya.
KV Mechelen have indicated that they will be expecting the young winger in Belgium from April 1 to April 30 for the month-long trials. Antonio said it was his dream to play professional football in Europe and has set himself ambitious targets.
“Two years from now, I should be playing in Europe,” he said.
“Basically, the Belgium trials are coming but going forward (I am looking forward to working hard to the extent that) I won’t be looking at trials but to have a situation where a team maybe in Switzerland or France saying we want to sign this boy just by seeing my videos before I even go for the trials.
“I am almost there, pushing with my teammates and the support of my guys.”
Antonio said he still needed to learn the ropes and was grateful for the platform he was given by Dynamos.
“I can say school football and professional football; these are two different levels. The intensity in training is way more different from what we used to do at Prince Edward.
“Football is always about adapting to the new situation. Last year, yes, I was very young but football is all about experience and getting to know from those who have more experience than you, the likes of Godknows Murwira, Partson Jaure and others.
“It’s always an honour to know that nationwide many people now know there is Bill Antonio. To those that I used to play with, it’s not something new and I think some of them could even surpass my stage because in football anything can happen. It’s all about hard work. That’s all I can say,” he said.
Antonio, who was raised in Dzivaresekwa, said he always aims to keep a cool head and has always touched base to keep childhood friends close.
“In life there are people that you know you grew up with and played street football with and so forth.
“Even if I spend more time here at Dynamos, I always try to make free time to sit with them so that we maintain the good relations that we had when growing up.
“In life it’s not like just because I am now playing for Dynamos I should be big-headed and discard my old friends and find new ones. In life you should have that humility and gratitude towards people,” said Antonio.
Online Reporter