ROBSON SHARUKO:

qualify for the Nations Cup finals ended in familiar failure on an Atlantic Ocean island last Saturday.
Just as was the case in ’81, ’83, ’85, ’87, ’89, ’91, ’93, ’95, ’97, ’99, 2001, 2007 and 2009, the journey to the Promised Land ended before we had reached it and, as we have done all those years, we are engrossed in a post-mortem to find the villains who destroyed the dream.

We were spared the pain in 2003, when Sunday Chidzambwa proved that Ben Kouffie was not as good as TB Joshua, when it came to predictions and football, and he was wildly off the mark when he said the Warriors would not qualify for the Nations Cup finals, even if they hired a coach from the moon.
Charles Mhlauri, with a little helping hand from Rahman Gumbo, spared us that agony in 2005 when he led the Warriors to the Nations Cup finals, to make up for the pain of the 1-8 aggregate loss in two games against Nigeria’s Super Eagles, including a 0-3 home defeat that Charles Mabika remembers well.

There have been some heroic attempts, which ultimately ended in failure and tears, and very few will forget Reinhard Fabisch and his Dream Team of ’93 who were just minutes away from securing their place at the ’94 Nations Cup finals only for Kalusha Bwalya to head home that priceless equaliser for Zambia.
Benjani Mwaruwari, until last October the Warriors’ skipper, played in both the 2008 and 2010 Nations Cup qualifiers and was involved in just one game, in the 2012 Nations Cup battle, against Cape Verde at the

National Sports Stadium, before deciding it was the moment to call time on his international football adventure.
This week Benjani spoke to The Herald, in the wake of the Warriors’ failure to qualify for the 2012 Nations Cup finals, and said he felt the team had blown the country’s best chance, in the past half-a-dozen years, to take its place at Africa’s biggest football festival.

The Portsmouth forward said the talent in a team, whose inspiration is talismanic forward Knowledge Musona, was good enough to take us to the Nations Cup finals and felt the deciding factor came in the two games, against Cape Verde, where he finds faults in the way the national association organised them.
The Warriors surrendered five points to Cape Verde, drawing at home after rank madness in the technical team paralysed their camp, and losing in Praia, in a game where Benjani finds faults in the way the preparations were handled in the countdown to the massive game.

The Warriors’ latest failure plunged a dagger into our nest of emotions, it hurt badly because, as Benjani rightly says, we were supposed to be at the 2012 Nations Cup finals and we should have won at home against Cape Verde and, in the worst case scenario, should have came out with a point from Praia.
Method Mwanjali, our skipper, had a stinker of a game in Praia and his two blunders directly led to the two early goals that Cape Verde scored and, from there on, it was an uphill battle for our brave boys and, despite their best efforts in which they turned the second half into one-way traffic, the pressure got to them and, in some cases, the islanders found salvation in the width of the post.

Method gave away possession, leading to the move that was crafted down the right channel of the Cape Verde attack, but – given that there was time for the islanders to knock the ball down the flank and for the winger to make his cross, a settled team should have recovered and our leftback and the central defenders should have averted the danger.
There was culpability, on Method’s part, to give away possession and play a blind pass towards Khama Billiat but the sum total of our defensive strengths, given that the ball traveled to the right flank and was then crossed into the box, should have been good enough to repel the danger and, that we didn’t, was also an indictment on our defensive shield. The second Cape Verde goal was an absolute disaster and Method, given all his experience, should have read the signs of the danger of trying to head the ball back to his ‘keeper, on an island where the winds can play games with the ball’s movement, and we all paid a huge price for that as it was intercepted and converted.

And, try as we did to come back – Willard Katsande’s first strike somehow being saved by the slightest touch from an inspired ‘keeper, Musona just miscuing his shot when in a good position, having his venomous left-footed volley pushed out for a corner when through on goal, Rusike heading against the crossbar with the ‘keeper stranded on the other side, Khama’s effort being disallowed in a hairline off-side call – we couldn’t make it.

And, as is usually the case when that happens, the blame season starts and it’s in full swing in Zimbabwe and on the cyberspace forums.

What Defensive Method Was Mwanjali Using?
Inevitably, Method’s poor performance in the heart of our defence in Praia has triggered speculation that the skipper, who has been carrying a weight of suspicion on his shoulders as one of the players fingered in the Asiagate report, might have been compromised.

When you are in Method’s position, and you happen to make those blunders, it’s hard for people just to take it on face value because all the doubts, cast by his inclusion among those fingered in the report, begin to provoke questions in the minds of the fans.
Given that Method is normally the best player in that heart of defence, who usually doesn’t make blunders, the fact that he made not one, but two in Praia, feeds the conspiracy theory that there was more to his performance on Saturday than what met the eye.

Method has bravely acknowledged that he messed up in that game, and this week made a public apology, in which he took full responsibility for his blunders, not only as a player but also as skipper, and asked for forgiveness from those who had invested all their trust in his abilities to defend our lines.
“My mistakes cost the team and I want to say I am sorry for what happened,” said Method.

“It is something that I have been thinking about and realised that I am to blame as an individual and also as captain but, mainly, as an individual.”
But it’s also easy to see conspiracy theories everywhere, especially in a polarised and volatile world football football like ours, where the shadow of match-fixing has cast its spell and continues to stalk every movement that we make.

So, our judgment is always dependent on what suits our emotions best and because it’s easy to link anything in a football game to match-fixing, we are finding ready excuses and explanations for everything that could have gone against our cause.

We conveniently ignored when things went our way and suddenly, to his harshest critics, Method’s contribution in leading his men to that point in Liberia and to victories in must-win games against Mali and Liberia, have been conveniently forgotten, which then doesn’t present fair ground to judge an individual.

I feel Method, of all the people in that team on Saturday, carried the biggest responsibility to his nation because he was not only the captain and the most experienced in-field player, but it also presented him with a grand opportunity to write a success story for the Warriors as their leader.

He had more to gain, in terms of leading the Warriors to success and a place at the Nations Cup finals, than losing this game because that possible triumph would have been a huge boost to him, especially against a background where his reputation has been questioned.
To be remembered as only the second captain, to take the Warriors to the Nations Cup finals after the great Peter Ndlovu, would have not only boosted Method’s reputation but would certainly have helped to convince those who doubt him that his commitment to the team’s cause is, and has always been, 100 percent.

Maybe that is the pressure that weighed him down that day, given the defining nature of the occasion, and he ended up making those blunders that effectively sucked life out of our battle to be in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

Mistakes have been made, even on the grand stage of the World Cup, and it was only last year in South Africa when the globe watched as England goalkeeper Robert Green somehow let a tame effort, in the game against the United States, beat him and trickle home.

Yakubu’s incredible miss, when just two yards out with an open goal in front of him against South Korea in Durban last year, has been dubbed the World Cup Miss-Of-All-Time and a Facebook page, created specifically for people to discuss that moment, has attracted scores of followers.

I’m not Method’s advocate but I have my reservations about seeing conspiracy theories in everything that happens on the pitch because, once we slip into that mode full-time, we will then see shadows everywhere and soon someone will question the two soft goals John Sibanda questioned against Congo in ’91.
Why Bruce Grobbelaar became the first ‘keeper to be beaten by a header by Kalusha Bwalya in his career in that game at the National Sports Stadium, how Wilfred Mugeyi missed an open goal, with a volley that flew high and wide, against Egypt in Tunisia, and how Benjani clipped his effort over the bar, with the goal at his mercy, in Egypt against Senegal.

I’m not a judge but I believe, for every story, there are always two sides.

The World Of Conspiracy Theories
The problem with conspiracy theories is that they are easy to spread as a gospel and they seemingly provide an explanation for a lot of things, depending on what you want to believe and how much you have been sucked into that world.

We spent the whole of last week, as a nation, talking endlessly about how Mali and Liberia were conspiring to rig the result of that match with the points being donated to the Eagles of Mali by a Lone Star team whose defeat in Harare ended their hopes of qualifying for the 2012 Nations Cup finals.
We were sucked into the conspiracy world of that Liberian newspaper that started it all by claiming there was a Malian delegation that had come into town, disguised as a religious group, to offer the Lone Star whatever it took for them to throw away the game in favour of Mali. We seemed to believe that conspiracy and made a lot of noise about it, including writing to Fifa and Caf, and warning them that the two West

African nations were about to sacrifice the spirit of Fair Play and play a dirty game.
It didn’t matter that we didn’t have the evidence, did it, to back our claims because we trusted that Liberian newspaper as if it had suddenly turned into the Bible and, since what it was saying things that suited our agenda as Zimbabweans, we swallowed it hook, line and sinker.

There was a flurry of reports everywhere in the mainstream newspapers here and on the internet, there was a flurry of letters dispatched from 53 Livingstone Avenue to Fifa and Caf on the subject, there was a flurry of meetings and, on the eve of our match in Cape Verde, we even joined the Atlantic Ocean islanders in a joint communiqué questioning what was about to happen in Liberia.
Because we believed the gospel, and were sucked into the conspiracy, we questioned the integrity of not only the Liberians, whom we believed were ready to sell their souls, but also the Malians, whom we believed were not professional enough to try and win their game on merit.

Towards the end of the game in Monrovia on Saturday, Mali scored and led 2-1 and, had that scoreline stayed the same, and had the Warriors won in Cape Verde, we would have spent the whole of this week telling ourselves, and everyone who cares to listen to us, that we were right that the Liberia/Mali game had been fixed.
To us, the evidence would be that Mali somehow scored late, for what would have proved to be the winner, that Liberia had not lost in their last two Nations Cup finals against Zimbabwe and Cape Verde and that the bubbly Liberians had, in fact, won against Cape Verde.

We would have used Mali’s away games in this group, as proof that there was credibility in our conspiracy theory that the match in Liberia was fixed, and analysts and commentators would be going all out about how the Malians lost in Cape Verde and how they also lost in Harare and, so, how then was it possible for them to win in Monrovia?
We would have used the fact that Liberia only called in four foreign-based players for the game against Mali, as they begin preparations for their 2014 World Cup qualifier against Mauritius next month, as proof that the Liberians wanted to field as week a team as possible so that it would fit into their grand design to throw the match to their West African counterparts.

We would have used the absence of skipper Anthony Laffor, described by the Liberian Football Association as injured when his club SuperSport United were saying on their website that he was fine, as further proof that this was all part of grand scheme to throw the game to the Malians.
Given that it’s all part of a conspiracy theory, it would have made a lot of sense and we would have gone into the weekend so sure that the Liberians threw away the game, and we would have written a flurry of letters in protest, whether to Caf or Fifa, and we would have spent acres of space in the newspapers scandalising not only Liberia but also Mali.

But would that be right?
What then is our response to the brave way the same Liberians, whose credibility we not only questioned but savaged all week, bravely fought for their pride and, indirectly, our cause and, even in the final moments of added time in that game, still found the energy to go forward and grab an equaliser?

Of course, we have no answer, do we? But that’s the price you pay for being addicts to conspiracy theories.

Chasing Two Birds With One Stone
Zifa’s twin mission – to try and cleanse our game of the corruption the association believes is rampant and to chase a 2012 Nations Cup dream based on the input of some of the players who want to be hanged by the same body – was one mountain to high to climb for the guys at 53 Livingstone Avenue.

Their case, too, wasn’t helped by the numerous sourced stories, pushed by faceless board members too frightened to have their identity back up their claims but inspired to push their agenda through, which sent conflicting signals into the team.
The timing of Fifa security chief Chris Eaton, just two weeks before the Cape Verde game, and how it ended up being hijacked and turned into a forum of threats to players, including those who were to represent us in Praia, was certainly not in the best interests of our qualification dream.

Don’t mistake me for being someone who doesn’t want the house to be cleaned but we were chasing two birds, and we had one stone.
What would have been wrong to ask Eaton to come now, that the qualifying battle is over and we would be having until January to play our next competitive game at the Nations Cup finals, with enough time to clean our house?

Pafungei ipapo hama dzaMwari.
When you think about it deeply, you can see the weight that was on the shoulders of Method and Nyasha Mushekwi and, as sad as it sounds, it also had an effect on the performance on Khama Billiat whose name has been included in the Asiagate report because he happened to travel to China on one trip.

Six of the players who featured in the starting XI – Mapemba, Method, Sweswe, Ovidy, Khama, Mushekwi – have the axe hanging over them and we all felt it would be all good, despite all the threats that reached a crescendo when Eaton arrived.

Tough, isn’t it?
Interestingly, across the border, Botswana went to China and played some games two years ago, which the BFA believe were compromised, leading to the axing of chief executive Mooketsi “Tosh” Kgotlele.
The professional way they handled their crisis has been rewarded with a place at the 2012 Nations Cup finals.
We can only watch from a distance.

Death Of A Legend
Moses “Madalaboy” Moyo, Soccer Star of the Year in 1974, was a Zimbabwean football legend and his death this week, at the age of 60, was a great loss.
When you look at the quality of the players he beat to win the 1974 Soccer Star of the Year award – Bruce Grobbelaar (first runner-up), Barry Daka (second runner-up), Daniel Chikanda, Isaac Mafaro, Peter Nyama,

Billy Sharman, George Shaya and Posani Sibanda – then you can appreciate his true value. Rest in peace Madalaboy, you set the standards for Peter Ndlovu and company.

Joke Of The Week
A man and his wife are taking a drive, in the family car, for a weekend at their rural home and every discussion, on the way, somehow turns into an argument. So they drive for over 200km in silence and they get to an area where they see a lot of donkeys grazing on the side of the road. In a bid to break the silence, the husband tells his wife: “These animals are your relatives, isn’t it?” And the wife replies: “Oh, yes, you right dear, they are my in-laws.” – Joke provided by Takawira Mapuranga, Bindura, ManU Forever, Chelski Never.

Come on United!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chicharitooooooooooooooooooooooooo
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