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defeat for Norman Mapeza and his men.
The last time the Smiling Assassin did not play for the Warriors, on home soil, two bullish young men seized the initiative, to provide the goals for their country in the absence of the hitman, and Zimbabwe won the match 2-0 at Rufaro.
The last time the Warriors played at the National Sports Stadium, in this Nations Cup campaign, they failed to find the fire for the goals, even with Magical Musona in the team, and the match against Cape Verde ended in a painful goalless draw.
The last time Liberia were away from home, was coincidentally the same day Zimbabwe and Cape Verde were battling it out to a goalless draw, and the Lone Star were unlucky to lose 1-2 in Bamako as horrible hometown decisions gifted the Malians a win they barely deserved.
The last time the Warriors won a Nations Cup qualifier at the National Sports Stadium was exactly six years ago, on September 5 2004, when – thanks to that Shingi Kawondera penalty that never was – we beat Rwanda 3-1 to seal our place at the 2006 showcase in Egypt.
We missed the big fish, of course, when we failed to make it to the 2006 World Cup finals, whose qualifiers ran concurrently with the Nations Cup ones, and true Warriors’ fans still have nightmares of that day when the giant stadium turned from home into hell and we were humbled 0-3 by Nigeria on September 5 2004.
That day when my Charles “CNN” Mabika went to town about a certain genius called Jay Jay Okocha.
People still talk about the good old days when the National Sports Stadium was our theatre of dreams and, in such nostalgic journeys, a lot of them point to the period when Reinhard Fabisch was still our coach and his Dream Team floored a number of giants in that cathedral.
But, save for that 4-1 win over a Bafana Bafana side, still trapped in the madness of shoe-shine piano football on August 8, 1992, and the 4-1 thrashing of Cameroon on January 22 ’95, with the Indomitable Lions still haunted by their six-goal humiliation by Russia at the ’94 World Cup, the giant stadium rarely provided home comforts under Fabisch.
Now and again, we had to battle long and hard for that victory and the majority of the results show that – (DRC 2-1; Guinea 1-0; Mauritius 2-0; Cameroon 1-0; Angola 2-1; Egypt 2-1) and there were those few high moments (4-1 against Bafana Bafana), (4-1 against Cameroon) and (5-0 against Lesotho).
Back in those days, you were guaranteed a full-house 60 000 fans for the Warriors in the National Sports Stadium but, even with those massive numbers, how many times did we see Fabisch going wild as he appealed to the supporters to get behind the team?
How many times did we see him telling us that he wasn’t hearing the noise, that the players wanted to hear the voices of the fans, that the opposition needed to feel that they were in hostile territory and, those with good memories, can still see Fabisch, in his trademark blue shirt, doing his theatrics.
But, when it came to the crunch moments, the giant stadium never felt like home, even during that golden age under Fabisch, and those who were around then still remember that fateful day, July 25, 1993, when Kalusha Bwalya’s header ended our hopes of a maiden appearance at the Nations Cup finals.
I had an excellent view of the final moments of that game, as the Zambians destroyed our dream, as I was standing very close to Chipolopolo’s caretaker coach Fred Mwila, on the tartan track of the giant stadium, as he barked countless orders trying to inspire his men to make one last stand.
As fate might have it, Norman Mapeza was part of that Dream Team that collapsed on that fateful day in the giant stadium.
Disaster struck, and Kalusha – who until then had never scored with his head – somehow got the connection right, and his header flew past Grobbelaar and Zambia had the goal that would take them to Tunisia where, to rub salt into our wounds, they even reached the final of that tournament before losing 1-2 to Nigeria.
Tomorrow, the Warriors return to the National Sports Stadium for a Nations Cup qualifier against Liberia that they must win to take their campaign for a place at the finals next year into the final weekend of fixtures next month.
Mapeza has suffered in the giant stadium before, which probably explains his initial reluctance to take the big game there, and if it was not seeing Kalusha heading home the priceless goal, in the decisive moment of that game against Zambia, then it was watching Patrick Mboma scoring two thunderbolts as Cameroon won 2-0 in that ground.
He wasn’t in the team when Okocha and his magicians tore us to pieces inside the giant stadium, but Mapeza was on the bench, directing operations, when Cape Verde came to town and escaped with a point – becoming the only team, in these Nations Cup qualifiers, to stop Musona from scoring.
Knowledge is not around tomorrow and, whichever way you look at it, it’s a huge blow because he is the one who has scored all the goals, in this campaign, and his presence appears to give us that special touch upfront where you expect anything, anytime – even in the last minute as was the case against Mali.
But it’s pointless risking Knowledge now, when we might need him more in Cape Verde, and the challenge is on the others to show – as they did against Zambia in that friendly international – that the Warriors’ attack is by no means a one-man show.
Obviously, that comes with pressure, especially in home games, and when it doesn’t quickly happen, and the opposition begins to feel a bit confident and the crowd a bit restless, things can change quickly and what had initially been a mole turns into a tough mountain to climb.
Cuthbert Malajila’s return to action, and scoring form, has been refreshing but it’s one thing scoring in the domestic Premiership and another thing getting goals in Nations Cup qualifiers, and Mapeza’s job is made even complex by the reality that Edward Sadomba didn’t shine in the out-and-out central striking position against Zambia.
Duduza appears to be comfortable when playing in a free role upfront, where he can drift wide and come inside at pace, the same role played by Khama Billiat, and the same role where Ovidy Karuru flourished against Mali at Rufaro as our voices pushed our boys forward.
It’s hard to replace Knowledge, simply because Musona is Magical, but Norman Mapeza has to find a way to get us goals tomorrow, without the man who has done it three times already, and – given that the will is there – we certainly can find the way.
For that to happen we need a full-house at the giant stadium tomorrow, for the Warriors to feel that the fans are with them even without the team’s talisman, and let’s make Liberia feel they have never been in a place like this, and let’s make the likes of Duduza and company feel at home.
We gain absolutely nothing by targeting players, simply because at some point they played for our rivals in the local league, and that syndrome – so prevalent at Rufaro – has to stop so that we embrace all our Warriors as our ambassadors who need our support to cross the line.
Let’s start now to turn the National Sports Stadium into our Theatre of Dreams.
The Tragedy Of Underrating Liberia
When the Lone Star crashed to a 2-4 defeat in Cape Verde, there were a lot of commentators who dismissed them as the whipping boys of this group.
But the Liberians, to their credit, have done remarkably well and they have scored more goals than our Warriors, were unlucky to lose in Bamako when an own goal, and biased officiating, sent them tumbling to defeat and, unlike us, they beat Cape Verde at home.
There is a detectable improvement in their discipline, especially in defence, and scoring against them has proved difficult as the campaign has gathered momentum and the Lone Star now feel they have an entire nation behind them with the country’s President leading the campaign for their support.
To just beat us, they have been dangled a US$5 000 carrot for each player, and – given what happened on their last visit to Bamako – you can be guaranteed that they are dying for revenge when they host Mali in their final qualifier in Monrovia.
Anthony Laffor needs no introduction to many of us who watch Super Diski and he has proven himself to be a decent forward in the past four years, turning himself into one of the key players for SuperSport United when they repeatedly won the league championship.
He could have been at Mamelodi Sundowns, probably squeezing Nyasha Mushekwi out of the move, had negotiations between the two clubs not collapsed.
So, the Lone Star have a decent team and, unlike the Warriors, they are not weighed down by the home crowd pressure and the freedom they have to play their game makes them a very dangerous team in tomorrow’s encounter.
After a year, away from the giant stadium, our boys will take time to try and adjust to the wide spaces of the ground and, hopefully, we will strike early to cool down the nerves so that magicians like Khamaldinho and Karuru can then express themselves freely.
Something tells me we have a match on our hands tomorrow but, even away from dear old Rufaro, I keep getting this feeling that the momentum is with us right now, not only for this game, but also to clear the hurdle – when Magical Musona returns – in Cape Verde.
What is needed is for us to concentrate, just the way we did against Mali, and not to approach Liberia as a weaker nation simply because they are ranked lower than us on the Fifa/Coca-Cola rankings.
The Warriors Live On Television
At least, the Warriors are live on ZBC, which will enable their fans in places like Chakari and Mutare – who can’t travel to Harare for the big game – to watch their boys in action.
Sadly, the domestic Premiership, the nursery of all these Warriors, is still missing from ZBC – both on radio and television – and the fans keep feeling that they are the ones who are paying dearly for whatever issues that are keeping the game off air.
It’s sad that, for a country like ours, that wonder goal that Malajila scored at Rufaro two weeks ago, has been lost from the memory simply because noone from ZBC was there to capture it while our national television station gives us a deluge of action from the English Premiership.
Yes, Wayne Rooney is a better striker than Malajila, but for us to get to know him as a global brand, he was aided by the power of television and, if there is something great that the South Africans really do about their own stars, then it’s the way they give them television coverage.
That way they have helped average players like Teko Modise to become superstars and big marketing agents while I will bet my last dollar that, of the five people that Malajila will meet in the street on a trip to Chakari, three are unlikely to know him.
And it’s not because they don’t know who Cuthbert Malajila is but because they don’t know the person who has that name, something that television does better than newspapers.
Against that background, it was therefore very disappointing to hear that ZBC and Delta had gone into bed to bring us English football on national television before something had been done to sort out the issue of the domestic game.
Now Delta, who are also the sponsors of the Castle Lager Premiership, somehow find it good to join the wagon of sponsors who are bringing Rooney and company to our screens, either through ZBC or Dtsv, while noone is doing something for poor Marvel Samaneka.
Those who were at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday have been talking endlessly about how this magician turned up with a bag full of tricks and ran rings around the Highlanders’ defence.
Sadly, those who were not there missed it all and it’s lost from the memory while we will keep getting, either on ZBC or on Dstv, endless action about the hattrick Rooney scored against Arsenal.
Charity, they say, begins at home.
Maybe, correct me if I’m wrong, I’m the one who has since been left behind by a movement that has taken everyone on board the English Premiership bandwagon, including Delta Beverages, while the domestic Premiership rots in its poverty.
But I’m cheered when I see 10 000 Dynamos fans making the trip to Mabvuku and creating a traffic jam, along Mutare road, last seen before the dawn of this millennium, just to cheer Mukamba, Malajila and Gutu.
When I see those images, and see that The Herald sells very well on the occasions the big teams in the capital do very well, I am comforted by the fact that this local game, as poor as it is, still has a big market and that’s why I’ve remained part of it – television or no television.
As they say in Polokwane, ‘Lidoda Duva’ – Our Day Shall Come!
But you can’t keep a good Premiership down and Mbada Diamonds came on board this week with a US$1 million injection into the local top-flight league – the latest in a number of companies that have come on board.
They have even set aside US$150 000 to help the team, which wins the tournament, and represents Zimbabwe in the Caf Confederations Cup next season.
That certainly is a challenge to Castle Lager, who have the flagship sponsorship of the league, as the US$75 000 for winning the Mbada tournament is the same as winning the league championship.
Then, of course, there is that big subsidy for playing in the Confederations Cup and, hopefully, Castle Lager will provide something for the team that plays in the Champions League next season.
Thank you, Mbada, you have made a difference.
Spare A Thought For Wenger
So Rooney scored his sixth Premiership hattrick for Manchester United against Arsenal and, in the process, became the leading goalscorer for the Red Devils in the Premiership with 107 goals.
Giggs has 105 and Scholes 102.
Rooney has a knack of scoring his milestone goals against Arsenal, scoring his first Premiership goal, in Everton colours, against the Gunners and his first United league goal against the men from the Emirates.
His 100th league goal also came, would you believe it, against the Gunners in a 3-1 win at the Emirates last year.
Sunday marked the 10th time that United has scored eight or more goals in a competitive match, the third time the Red Devils have done so in the past 40 years and the Gunners joined Nottingham
Forest (8-1 in 1999) and Ipswich Town (9-0 in 1995) among those victims.
The eight goals are the most either team has scored in 213 meetings against each other, United’s winning margin was the biggest ever in the series, beating the five-goal mark in a 6-1 win in 2001 and it was Arsenal’s worst Premiership defeat.
It marked the first time the Gunners had allowed eight goals in a league match since December 1896, when the club – then known as Woolwich Arsenal – lost 8-0 to Loughborough Town in Division Two.
Just in case you are a Gunner looking for something to cheer your spirits, the two goals by Arsenal on Sunday marked the first time they had scored more than one goal in a league match at Old Trafford since 1984.
Matt Lawton, Daily Mail football writer
This looked like a team of imposters who had tied up the real players and emerged from the Old Trafford tunnel in their kit.
Martin Samuel – Daily Mail columnist
They kept going until the end, bless them – the supporters, not the team.
They began the second half determined to stay proud, to stay loud, to let their love and devotion show; but, by God, it was hard. It must have been horrible, trying to remain boisterous and upbeat on the outside while crying within.
Wenger was woken up this morning by his wife: “Sweetheart, wake up, it’s 9 already.” He jumps out of his bed and shouts: “WHAT! Don’t tell me they have scored again.”
Come on Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Khamaldihooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
As they say in Polokwane, ‘Lidoda Duva,’- Our Day Shall Come. Maybe that day is tomorrow.
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