admin
The former Zimbabwe skipper is back in South Africa, after a dozen years playing professional football in Switzerland, France and England, and has signed a one-year deal with Bidvest Wits after completing a short stint at relegated Chippa United.
The 35-year-old Zimbabwe international footballer is in the twilight zone of a successful club career that has seen him play for Grasshoppers Zurich in Switzerland, Auxerre in France, Portsmouth in England, where he broke the club’s transfer record, and the world’s richest football club, Manchester City.
His 12-year stay in Europe meant that he only got to meet and play with most of his fellow Warriors on national duty, limiting him to just about four days exposure at any given time, with his teammates and, by his own admission, it wasn’t enough to give him a good assessment.
But things have changed now and Benjani, who retired from international duty three years ago, is the teammate of midfielder Denver Mukamba, the man hand-picked by coach Klaus Dieter Pagels to be the Warriors skipper, and plays regularly against some of the men who are now the leading lights in the national team.
His return to South Africa has also helped him keep a close eye on the home-based crew of players, who now form a considerable chunk of the Warriors, something which he couldn’t afford to do during his stay far away in Europe.
Today, the home-based Warriors face Lesotho in Ndola, Zambia, for a place in the final of the Cosafa Senior Challenge Cup, exactly 13 years after Benjani and his Class of 2000 thrashed the mountain kingdom 6-0 on aggregate, in a final played on home-and-away basis, to hand Zimbabwe their first Cosafa title.
Benjani scored in the 3-0 victory, in the second leg of that final, before a capacity crowd of 35 000 fans at Barbourfields – the first major triumph for the national team, 15 years after their Cecafa Cup success, which breathed life into the Warriors and, three years later, they ended their lengthy wait for a place at the Nations Cup finals.
On Monday, Benjani told The Herald in Johannesburg that he has been charmed by the quality of the players he believes will play leading roles in the Warriors’ quest for success in the future and expects them to make a huge impact.
Benjani has been training with Mukamba, who struggled to make an impression when he joined Bidvest Wits in January this year from Dynamos, in pre-season and has been impressed by what he has seen in the young forward who turns 21 on December 21 this year.
Bidvest Wits now have a new coach, Gavin Hunt, and he is expected to give Mukamba a very big role this season after floating on the fringe in the first five months of his stay at the club when it was under the guidance of Clive Baker.
“Denver has an incredible first touch, it is all about class, and no one can teach you to do that because you can only have been born with such a talent,” said Benjani.
“He has really impressed me with his natural talent and while I knew that he was good, I never knew that he was really this good, until I started training with him.
“He has some excellent touches, his movement is very good and he is working very hard, which is what he really needs to keep improving his game.
“He is young and he can only get better, if he continues working hard, and I think he can make a big impact at the club this coming season.
“When I look at players like Denver, their potential and their age, I get this feeling that we have the right quality of material for us to really do very well, as a national team, in the short-term and even in the long-term.
“Yes, our national team is down right now, and the results haven’t been coming, but the future, as far as I can see, looks very good because I’m so sure we have some very young and exciting players who will make a big difference in the team soon.
“I think his advantage is that he is also being guided by a very good guy, Thomas (Sweswe), and he can learn a lot from him in terms of discipline and focus.”
Benjani has also been closely following the career of Khama Billiat, who has also emerged as one of the key players for the Warriors, during The Undertaker’s short stint in Cape Town at Chippa United who were relegated after falling in the play-offs.
Recently, Benjani also played against Billiat when Bidvest Wits and Ajax Cape Town clashed in a pre-season friendly.
“Khama is the other player with an incredible touch and you can see that he is set to go very far in his career if he can just concentrate on his game and remain focused,” said Benjani.
“His touch and his reading of the game is well beyond his young age and his movement is excellent and that is why there is so much interest in his services in Europe and even from the big clubs here in South Africa.
“I have been talking to my friends and I have been saying, guys, we really have some quality players right now for our national team, these guys are young and they are talented and all they need is to retain their composure, work hard and they can do very well for themselves and the Warriors.”
Billiat is likely to be given another chance to try his luck in France, while he waits for feedback from Lokomotiv Moscow, but Ajax Cape Town coach, Muhsin Ertugral, believes the Zimbabwe international, who turns 23 next month, will stay for another season at the club.
Ertugral described Billiat as a “quality player” who deserves a chance to play in Europe. “He is a quality player,” Ertugral told KickOff.com yesterday. “He has overstayed his welcome in South Africa and deserves to play in Europe. He has the potential to play overseas. “I am going to work with him and polish a few things before he goes overseas.”
Some of the players who are now regulars in the Warriors, and have age on their side to keep getting better, and will be under Benjani’s radar in the coming few months, include Knowledge Musona, the talisman of the national team, who has returned on loan to Kaizer Chiefs after two frustrating years in Germany.
Musona, who turned 23 last month, has been the best performing Warrior for the past three years, scoring some big goals for his team, but hasn’t been rewarded with the success that his contribution to the national cause probably deserves.
Benjani was part of the Warriors who successfully challenged for a place at the 2004 Nations Cup finals, although he missed the football festival in Tunisia because of injury, while he was handed the captaincy, for two of the games, at the 2006 Nations Cup finals in Egypt.
Musona’s teammate at Chiefs will be rising forward, Matthew Rusike, who turned 23 on June 28 this year and chose to play for Zimbabwe despite approaches from the South Africans for him to feature for Bafana Bafana, for whom he qualified on the basis of his South African mother.
Ironically, the return of Musona to Chiefs means that Rusike might have to contend with cameo roles in an attack that also has South African international striker, Bernard Parker.
Although he has, somehow, been ignored by the Warriors’ coaches, Bradley Pritchard, who plays for Charlton Athletic in the English Championship, the league just below the Premiership, is still only 27 and continues to impress and has now made a combined 54 appearances for the club in the past two years.
Online Reporter