Online Reporter
Sharuko On Saturday
FOR 45 minutes, Ramon Catala looked hopeless, clueless, restless, careless, motionless, helpless, powerless and, to a large extent, even useless.
A broken man being humbled by the assignment, being swallowed by the mission and being outfoxed by the younger man in the opposite dugout.
A shattered gaffer who was being handed a proper baptism of fire in his first game in charge of a national team in an AFCON qualifier.
At times, he looked disoriented, which is quite normal when you find yourself two goals down, within just half-an-hour, in your first game as a coach.
He also looked his real age.
A 65-year-old man being pummelled into submission and looking like a naked emperor, just dislodged from power, who was being paraded and humiliated at a trade fair.
Just as well, this ugly exhibition was not shown on ZTV, because of technical glitches, and a big part of our football fans didn’t get to watch the circus.
But, it was not supposed to be like this.
This was supposed to feel like home for Catala.
After all, this was Morocco and Spain was just across the sea, the shortest point between the two neighbours is about 14kms.
In 1912 a formal Spanish Protectorate was established in Morocco, the northern Moroccan cities of Tangier and Tetouan have strong Spanish cultural ties and Moroccans have the largest immigrant community in Spain.
This was supposed to feel like home, not so far away from home but, in those
45 minutes, in general, and especially the first half-an-hour in particular, it felt like hell for Catala.
And, on social media, the insults were flying. On those streets, you have guys who react because they genuinely feel HURT while you also have guys who react because they are driven by HATE.
They now hate their country so much that any outlet to release their fury, whether it’s provided by the Warriors falling, or failing, on the international stage, is a trigger for their explosion.
We read their messages, in those thirty minutes of hell, and the majority of them were typically savage, the tone was predictably brutal and the X-rated language cannot be repeated in a newspaper like this one.
And, in the eye of this tsunami, stood Catala — a man who had spent three decades of his coach life specialising in physical fitness, an old, and expiring, Spanish version of our MaRubber or Coach Thulani at DeMbare.
He looked like a man lost while sailing in a broken yacht along the Strait of Gibraltar, the body of water which separates Morocco and Spain.
It was probably fitting that he was wearing an oversized tracksuit bottom.
He appeared like an amateur actor, waiting for his part in a Spanish comedy group, instead of a national team coach fighting in the brutal trenches of African football.
Amid all this, my mind raced back to my reservations about his appointment, especially given his limited experience, and in a way limited understanding, of the African football terrain.
It’s a different and unforgiving beast.
If he needed an example to show him why the African football terrain is different, then he only needed to look at his host nation.
Morocco arrived at the 2023 AFCON finals having just created history as the first African country to reach the World Cup semi-finals a few months earlier in Qatar.
This meant they had a right to call themselves one of the four strongest football nations in the world.
They were favourites for that AFCON title but they never made it past the Round of 16, the first knockout round, after they were eliminated by Bafana Bafana, without even scoring a goal, in a 0-2 defeat.
CATALA FIGHTS BACK AND GETS DUE REWARDS
Thank God, football is not played over just the opening 30 minutes or the opening half of 45 minutes.
It’s a game that is played over 90 minutes and, if necessary, a contest can be stretched to two hours and even post-match penalties.
It’s a common argument, in this game, that the second half belongs to the coach and the best coaches have been seen by the way they change gears after the interval.
For a man, who was taking charge of his players for the first time, it’s probably fair to give Catala the benefit of doubt that he did not know how many of them would respond in a proper match environment.
In such a scenario, mistakes can be made.
At the break, he acted swiftly and decisively and, for that, he deserves praise for the way his men stormed back into the contest.
His decision to introduce the lively Bill Antonio, at the start of the second half, and sacrifice right back Sean Fusire, because we needed more weight in attack, was a masterstroke.
Tawanda Maswanhise’s switch to the left was also a good move and suddenly the West Africans were being confronted by pace, youth and dribbling wizardry on both flanks.
There were many tweaks in defence, during that second half, a back three, a back four, you name it, and Marshall Munetsi and the baby-faced assassin called Tawanda Chirewa, took control of midfield.
Marvellous Nakamba has many critics, including some who feel he doesn’t deserve a place in the team, let alone the captaincy.
But, in that second half, he rolled back the years with probably his finest performance, over 45 minutes, for his country.
I fought in Munetsi’s corner, when he was given a raw deal by Mario, because I felt he was an important player in our team and, after all, foreign coaches come and go but Marshie will never swap the national team he represents.
His two goals on Thursday night, the equaliser and the winner, were a reminder of what we missed during those months of madness when some of us trusted a Romanian madman we didn’t know.
Instead of singing in the corner of one of us, a man we knew very well.
He sent me a message on Thursday night, in which he just said ‘THANKS MUDHARA,’ and to me it means the world.
THIS WAS A FIGHTBACK OF THE AGES
There are still many weaknesses in our team and the defence did not look solid and our goalkeeper appears overwhelmed when he wears the Warriors jersey and the pressure that comes with it.
But, dwelling on those weaknesses, when you have just produced the greatest comeback in your history, on foreign soil for that matter, is like sharing a beer and a toast with the Devil.
Choosing not to praise Catala for the changes he introduced and how they changed the game, is the closest thing to witchcraft in this game which prides itself as the most beautiful in the world.
Pretending not to see the gallant fightback which these Warriors showed, built in blood, sweat and tears, is the closest thing to madness which you can possibly find in football.
We are not known, when it comes to football, to be a group of people who can fight back the way those boys did in Morocco.
Yes, our nickname tells the world that we are Warriors but, for as long as I can remember, we have never fought back from a two-goal deficit and turn it around, in the last 18 minutes, to emerge as winners.
It’s important to note that by the 72nd minute, we were still 0-2 down.
In the final 18 minutes, we scored three times, including the winner, and cheered a nation desperate for such a feel-good story.
Don’t let anyone fool you that, after all, it’s just Sierra Leone.
Well, in the last couple of years they have beaten Cote d’Ivoire, when they were African champions, they have beaten Nigeria and they have beaten Cape Verde.
What this means is that they are a decent football team and this wasn’t just about us beating them.
This was about the spirit we showed, to refuse to be bullied, to trust ourselves that we could fight back, even though there was no evidence of us doing so in the past and, more importantly, to refuse to settle for a point.
Football is now scientific, it’s about statistics and check the stats and you will see that this was a very good job by Catala and his boys.
We had 55,6 percent possession, 16 shots compared to Sierra Leone’s nine shots, 27 touches inside the opposition box, compared to 13 for them and we won 16 aerial duels compared to seven for them.
We committed less fouls, had double the number of corners, 427 passes compared to 349 for them, an 85,9 percent pass accuracy compared to 82,5 percent pass accuracy for them and 144 forward passes compared to 120 for them.
We only had 23 long balls all night, compared to 59 for them, we had 69 successful final third passes, compared to 42 for them and we sent in 20 crosses compared to just nine from them. Our defence, despite its weaknesses, won 77,8 percent tackles compared to 65,2 percent tackles for them.
Now, let’s deal with Lumumba and his Congolese and ensure that our National Sports Stadium homecoming show, under lights, will be one to remember.
Just like our comeback in Morocco.
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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