Online Reporter
Tadious Manyepo recently in MARRAKECH, Morocco
MARVELOUS NAKAMBA has been having nightmares for almost a week after his calamitous mistake cost the Warriors against rivals South Africa at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
The Zimbabwe captain, for long the unsung hero in midfield battles where he has consistently brought the much-needed balance to the team, handled the ball with just 10 minutes remaining on the clock.
Until that moment, Zimbabwe had twice pegged back Bafana Bafana and looked the most likely team to get a goal given the pattern with which the showdown was unfolding at the Grande Stade de Marrakech.
The Warriors needed an outright win in that game to finish second in Group B and clip their place in the Round of 16 that gets underway today.
Given the way other matches across the other groups then went after Monday’s defeat, even a draw in that game could have been sufficient to see Zimbabwe progressing to the second round for what could have been their first time to do so in six attempts.
But time froze everything as the Luton Town man went down his left, desperate to clear what he saw as certain danger, but ended up handling a Mohau Nkota strike.
Referee of the day, Morocco’s Mustapha Kechkaf, initially awarded a corner kick to Bafana Bafana, but a VAR review confirmed Nakamba had handled the ball before bundling it out with his head.
South Africa’s winger Oswin Appollis made no mistake from the spot and this time around, there was no come back from Marian “Mario” Marinica’s charges.
Zimbabweans’ response to Nakamba’s mistake has been spontaneous and they should be forgiven to feel like that.
Daggers have also been out for defender Divine Lunga and goalkeeper Washington Arubi for their culpability in Zimbabwe’s second goal which they conceded pretty much against the run of play five minutes after the break.
That too is understandable for a country that is so much in love with their national team.
There have been “match-fixing” undertones in how some fans are assessing how the team lost the plot against South Africa.
That’s still to be forgiven because so much was expected from this class of Warriors under a top coach with previous AFCON experience.
Nakamba is aware of how passionate and sometimes unforgiving Zimbabweans can be when it comes to their national football team.
He was just an innocent eight-year-old Dinde Primary School learner and without any idea that he would one day skipper the Warriors when Wilfred Mugeyi committed the same cardinal sin when Zimbabwe made their AFCON bow in Tunisia back in 2004.
He never watched that match, but hours later, he was made aware that Mugeyi had failed to convert an impossible-to-miss chance in a situation that could have seen the Warriors draw level to 2-2 in their opening match against Egypt.
Up to now, a missed clear chance even at a boozers match in Hwedza or Budiriro is called a Mugeyi.
That’s how unforgiving Zimbabweans can be when it comes to their Warriors.
And after the match in Marrakech, Nakamba, fully aware of the impact of his handball on Zimbabwean football, went straight into the changing room, his cheeks filled with both dry and rolling tears.
His teammates tried to calm him down. They couldn’t.
Nakamba has made mistakes in his illustrious career that has taken him to the Netherlands, Belgium and English top-flights but has never been so much heartbroken.
“I take the flak,” he said upon seeing this reporter just after the Warriors finished their last supper at the Sofitel Hotel in Marrakech.
The 29-year-old himself never really had dinner.
“I am heartbroken. If there are people that I never want to let down, then it should be Zimbabweans.
“I will tell you that even when I am playing club football, I play there to make Zimbabweans proud.
“And these are the same people that I have disappointed today (on Monday). I am really sorry. I don’t know how to express this but I am slowly sliding into depression with what I have just caused.”
Yet the star midfielder, whose outstanding performance helped new-comer Jonah Fabisch to flourish in the middle of the park insists he thought the ball was goal-bound.
“I am never going to try and defend myself here.
“That will be abominable on my part.
“If you look at that phase of play, I was standing right in the middle part of our goal, just in front of goalkeeper Arubi.
“Just as the ball came, I drifted to the left and I never quite realised that the ball was going wide.
“The first conviction was that I was the last man. The second was that the ball was going in. I then went down desperate to head the ball away.
“But the ball had a lot of pace and as I went down, I also inadvertently handled it before heading it out.”
Nakamba also shared what Arubi’ told him after the offence.
“Washy (Arubi) was behind me. Just after the incident, he calmly said: Marve you handled the ball. We are in a tight spot now . . .”
At that moment, Nakamba paused, then broke down.
I reminded him of our own chances that we should have buried before and after his mistake particularly when substitute Macaulay Bonne failed to beat Bafana goalkeeper Ronwen Williams in a one versus one situation, Tawanda Maswanhise’s opportunity when hitting the upright and youngster Tadiwanashe Chakuchichi’s slowness when clear on goal.
“All that doesn’t really matter in this situation,” Nakamba added.
“I should have done better in dealing with my situation. I have let everyone down. My country, my people and my family. I am really sorry to all of you.”
At that point, one of the players he helped unearth from his annual Marvelous Nakamba Foundation tournament Prosper Padera emerged as he came down to meet some of his friends from the Finnish League.
The youngster, just like what he had done at the stadium just after the match and during dinner, continued to comfort his role model.
He even tried to lecture him one or two things as Nakamba nodded his head in agreement.
But that did little to really give the captain that comfort blanket.
Nakamba knows he owes the nation and he has pledged to pay Zimbabweans back by continuing to serve rather than throwing in the towel.
