Soccer star selection date set

Augustine Hwata Senior Sports Reporter
THERE are just three games to go before the end of what has been a closely-contested Castle Lager Premiership season and as the league draws to a close, some of Zimbabwe’s sports journalists and coaches will converge in Harare this month to select the 11 outstanding players.
The selection has, and will always, be shrouded in controversy as out of the 480 players registered, only 11 will be duly recognised as having played better than the rest.

Whatever, the final list, it will be criticised, rightly or wrongly, from sections who feel certain players would have been unduly left out, or included, on November 23.

Besides the 11 Soccer Stars of the Year, the Coach of the Year and the Referee of the Year will also be selected on November 23.
Delta Beverages marketing manager Patricia Murambinda yesterday said she was aware that not everyone will make the list but was hopeful that those deserving to be on the calendar will get their places.

“Our wish is for the best players to be recognised. We are hoping that those who have excelled this year will get due recognition,” she said.
Just like in previous years, the panel will be taken through the list of players and coaches who are ineligible for picking up yellow cards and or red cards beyond the acceptable numbers, or have been convicted for other offences.

“Before any the selection, there is going to be a presentation done so that everyone is guided and gets into the picture. The convener sets out the guidelines and if anyone has a query he or she may get clarification before the event starts,” said Murambinda.

Outsiders feel that the panel, at times, selects players based on partisan or regional lines at the expense of rewarding excellence.
Certain teams appear to have a quota, which must be filled with their players, irrespective of how they have played during that season.
Dynamos, the champions in the last two seasons, have provided the king of the domestic league in Washington Arubi (2011) and Denver Mukamba (2012) while 2010 champions Motor Action provided Charles Sibanda.

This time around Dynamos, Highlanders, Harare City and, to an extent CAPS United, are in the running for the championship and could also provide some of the stars of the season.

But as the 52-member panel meets, people should spare a thought for Devon Chafa, who could easily have walked away as the 2013 Soccer Star of the Year.

Chafa was banned by the world football governing body Fifa for testing positive for a prohibited substance that he unwittingly took in trying to cure a broken jaw.

At the time of his ban, Chafa had impressed for both Dynamos and the Warriors but his ban means that he is now ineligible for the award.
Players like Kuda Mahachi of Chicken Inn, Tendai Samanja, Hardlife Zvirekwi and Tafadzwa Dube (CAPS United), Bruce Kangwa and Munyaradzi Diya of Highlanders, appear to have done enough to make the list.

Zimbabwe international defender, Patson Jaure, whose moment of madness against Highlanders last month could work against him if his ban is extended by the Premier Soccer League, has also been outstanding this season.

Gift Bello has been the unsung hero at Dynamos while George Chigova has also had a good season, which saw him being promoted into the Warriors, where he helped them qualify for the 2014 CHAN finals.

Newboys Triangle could provide Misheck Mburayi, Blessing Chimwamuchere and Pasca Manhanga, one of the truly outstanding players of the year, while Tendai Ndoro of Chicken Inn appears guaranteed of his place among the Soccer Stars of the Year list.