PETER IS THE KING, KNOWLEDGE IS THE PRINCE

Sharuko On Saturday

TOMORROW, the greatest Warrior since King Peter, the finest Zimbabwean footballer of his generation, the best player in the domestic Premiership, turns 36.

Knowledge Musona, also known as the Smiling Assassin, will be a year older in a few hours’ time.

The boy from Norton, who turned into a man carrying the weight of our great football expectations, will just be four years short of 40.

Some say that, at 40, that’s when life begins.

Whatever that means, I’m so sure Musona will find that statement confusing because we have already seen his life unfold, before our own eyes, in the last two decades.

If what is waiting for him, after he turns 40, is anything bigger and better than what life has already given him before he turns 40, then he is set for a wild and beautiful ride.

Nineteen years have passed since we were first introduced to a teenage Musona at the 2007 COSAFA Under-17 Championships.

His hat-trick gave us a glimpse of his potential, but it was two years later, at a Johannesburg hotel, when I was told that we had just stumbled upon a raw football diamond.

That report came from Edzai Kasinauyo, in a bar at the City Lodge, a hotel on the fringes of the OR Tambo International Airport, in the winter of 2009.

I was in South Africa on assignment to cover the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup and Edzai arranged that we meet at the hotel where I was staying because there was some big news he wanted to share with me.

He told me that the teenage boy he was bringing, to sign for Kaizer Chiefs, was the best raw football talent he had seen in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia or any part of Southern Africa in a generation.

And, incredibly, he told me that he had needed just one match, where he had seen him in action, to come to that conclusion.

Edzai told me this guy was far better than anything that I had seen come out of Zimbabwe, in terms of football talent, since King Peter arrived on the scene at the turn of the ‘90s.

Sadly, my good old friend Edzai is not here today, to confirm that he, indeed, gave me that fine apprisal of Musona’s talent and potential.

The sword of death struck, just two years after Edzai passed the 40-year mark, where they say life begins, and he died in 2017 on June 16 – the day the continent celebrates the Day of the African Child.

Somehow, his death came in exactly the same month, eight years earlier, when we held that meeting in Johannesburg, where he told me that our best footballer, after King Peter, had just arrived.

It also came exactly a year after Musona and his Warriors ended the country’s decade-long wait for a return to the AFCON finals by thrashing Malawi 3-0 at the National Sports Stadium to book their place, with a game to go.

Musona opened the scoring in that destruction of the Flames and his long-time partner-in-crime, Khama Billiat, added the second before Cuthbert Malajila sealed the deal.

Edzai died five months after Musona scored his first goal at the AFCON finals, in the 2-4 defeat at the hands of Tunisia, in our final group game at the 2017 tournament.

Somehow, Musona’s goal came in the 42nd minute while Edzai, the guy who took him to South Africa and opened doors in a journey that would take him to Germany, Belgium and Saudi Arabia, died at the age of 42.

That the Warriors were the only Southern African team to play at the 2017 AFCON finals provided us with some bragging rights.

And, for good measure, Musona also scored at that AFCON finals.

PETER IS THE KING, KNOWLEDGE IS THE PRINCE

We are in the midst of another World Cup, the fifth global football showcase since Musona exploded on the big stage.

And, that he still remains such a huge influence for the Warriors, puts his value for his nation, and amazing talent, into proper perspective. For years, he has been the Warriors’ talisman, the man with the X-Factor who makes a difference to the team and, without him, they are pretty ordinary, pretty barren upfront, pretty average, pretty toothless, pretty sterile.

With him in the team, they have been a totally different outfit.

There was a time, in four years, when Musona was the only man who could score for the Warriors, in their World Cup/Nations Cup qualifiers away from home.

Only King Peter has scored more goals than Musona for the Warriors and, when one considers goals-per-game ratio, no one comes close to the Smiling Assassin.

Musona is the only Warrior to score a hat-trick in his first game as captain of the team and he did that when he destroyed Liberia 3-0 at the National Sports Stadium in 2017.

He is just one of a few elite Warriors — alongside Peter Ndlovu and Vitalis Takawira – who have scored an international hat-trick for our beautiful country.

He is the only Warrior to play in four AFCON finals and the only one to score at three AFCON finals for this country.

When he scored against Angola, at the age of 35, he became the oldest Warrior to score at the AFCON finals.

Musona was the Warriors talisman during the national team’s most successful era, in terms of AFCON finals appearances, when we qualified for three straight tournaments in 2017, 2019 and 2021.

During those campaigns, it became normal that when we needed someone to provide the X-Factor, that moment of genius which would prove the difference, we usually turned to Knowledge.

His leadership qualities, his reliability to always deliver when the country was crying out for a hero, means that Musona is alone, in second place behind the great Peter Ndlovu, when it comes to the GOATS of the Warriors.

Musona doesn’t want to hear his name being written in the same paragraph as Peter Ndlovu.

He feels it’s unfair for him to be mentioned where kings and immortals like Peter are mentioned.

That’s how humble he is, both as a footballer and as a person, and it is that humility that has helped him to become a star who is genuinely loved by all the football fans in this country.

When they see him, they see the brother, the son, the father and the captain they all would love to have – a family man allergic to controversy who simply lets his football do all the talking.

TWO SUPERSTARS IN ONE CAMP

Today, the two men, who have done more to the Warriors cause than any other player, find themselves under the same stable and fighting for the same cause at champions Scottland.

The football gods could not have scripted this tale any better – the greatest Warriors in the past 36 years, finding themselves in the same camp, fighting for the same cause.

Musona was born in the year that a 17-year-old Peter Ndlovu made his debut for the Warriors and won the first of his two Soccer Stars of the Year gongs.

Now, the two legendary Warriors are helping drive Scott Sakupwanya’s vision to create a Zimbabwean football club which, among other things, can help us make a big impression in the CAF Champions League again.

You might not like Scott, for whatever reason, but what we can’t ignore is that he has a vision to create a football club, which ticks all the boxes, when it comes to what is needed, to thrive in today’s environment.

He is building his stadium in Mabvuku, he has completed his club village in Ruwa, complete with training grounds and villas, he has a sponsorship with a leading bank to underwrite the salaries for his players and coaches and his team is attracting talent from across the entire region.

He has the best players in the league, there are some who will say he has the best coach, others will also say he has the best team bus and there is no doubt that he has the best perks for his men.

On Thursday, he announced that his players will each get a US$10 000 bonus for being the top team, after 18 matches, in the championship race.

What he probably didn’t say is that the bonus, the biggest amount ever paid to players in the domestic Premiership, was probably his gift for the way they beat Hardrock 2-0 at Rufaro on Sunday.

There were two major banks, with footprints across Africa, when he unveiled his kit for the new season and they both came with huge sponsorship packages. One won, and its name now occupies the front part of the Scottland jersey, the other lost the bidding war and, for a moment, appeared set to sign a deal with Dynamos before social media leaks destroyed that potential partnership.

Scott announced this week that he has secured another big sponsorship deal in Dubai and the funds will only help him strengthen his team even more.

Whether you like or you don’t like Scott is irrelevant right now, what is clear is that there is a revolution in our PSL, which is underway and is being televised and he is a big part of all that. In case you doubt that, just check how the attendance figures in the PSL are exploding, how the revenue is exploding and how Scottland, who were not even in existence four years ago, are at the heart of all that.

To God Be The Glory.

Peace to the GEPA Chief, the Big Fish, George Norton, Daily Service, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and all the Chakariboys still in the struggle.

Come on Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!

Antoniooooooooooooo!

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