Online Reporter
Sharuko on Saturday
ON Easter Monday, Pope Francis died and if we are to believe in fate it means Arsenal will win the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history next month.
The Argentinian was a football fan and when San Lorenzo, the club he supported, won the 2014 Copa Libertadores, the South American equivalent of the Champions League, he feted the players and coaching staff at the Vatican.
Pope Francis’ death has sparked interest in a curious coincidence about the death of Popes, in recent years, coinciding with English clubs winning the Champions League.
That is why some Arsenal fans are starting to believe that this could be the year the Gunners finally come of age and are crowned champions of Europe.
Liverpool won the Champions League in 1978 and it was the same year that Pope John Paul I died on September 28.
Pope John Paul II died on April 2, 2005 and, the following month, Liverpool won the Champions League with a spectacular comeback as they scripted the Miracle of Istanbul.
The Reds came back from three goals down to pull level with AC Milan at 3-3 and force the game into extra-time before somehow winning the game in the penalty shootout lottery.
That their opponents were from Italy, the country where the Pope has residence in the enclave called the Vatican, which is an independent state based in Rome, fuelled the conspiracy theories that this was a victory which was made in heaven.
This year the Pope died and Liverpool, who were the Champions League favourites after winning the group stages, will not win the tournament.
But, the Reds will, at least, win a major trophy as they will be crowned champions of England.
It’s a landmark triumph as this will mark the 20th time they will be crowned kings, which will equal the record which was set by their biggest rivals Manchester United.
However, Liverpool are not the only English club who have been crowned Champions League winners in the same year that a Pope has died.
Pope Benedict XVI died on December 31, 2022, and the champions of Europe that same year were Manchester City.
One can understand why there is so much excitement among some Arsenal fans that the football gods are working hand-in-hand with fate and next month, their beloved Gunners will be crowned champions of Europe.
Of course, everyone knows that life doesn’t always work like that and there are some big hurdles which this generation of Arsenal players have to clear before they can find their way into immortality.
PSG will be tough opponents in the semi-finals and even if they win that one, either Barcelona or Inter Milan will also be a formidable hurdle in the final.
The last time Arsenal were in the Champions League final they lost to a Barca side they should have beaten if they had played without the handicap of being a man short and if Thierry Henry had doubled their lead with an easy chance when through on goal.
But, that is all history now and what matters to the Gunners fans today is what the Class of 2025 can deliver and whether fate is also on their side and, with the death of the Pope, an English side will be crowned champions.
I’m not an Arsenal fan but I will celebrate with them if they win.
Their demolition of Real Madrid was the kind of result which can only be conjured by a team which is good enough to be champions of Europe.
THE STRUGGLING GIANTS
We know who will be crowned champions of England and we also know the four teams, who include Arsenal, who are likely to be crowned champions of Europe.
What we also know is that the traditional Big Two clubs in Harare – Dynamos and CAPS United – are unlikely to win the domestic championship this season after their poor start.
If DeMbare, whose players have scored just one goal, in seven league games, fail to win the championship this season, it will be the 11th year they have failed to do so.
That is an average of a goal every 10-and-a-half hours that Dynamos have played in the league this season.
It’s a damning statistic especially for a club which, in its history, boasts of a player who, in just one season, scored 46 goals, when Moses Chunga was at his lethal best.
It will be the first time in their 63-year history that the Glamour Boys have failed to win the championship in 11 years – the longest barren spell was the nine years between 1997 and 2006.
Bernard Marriot will also be remembered, albeit for the wrong reasons, that he was the first, and probably only Dynamos board chairman, who was in charge when the club went through such a miserable run.
There was a time when DeMbare were being counted as one of the big clubs on the continent but all that is gone now and they have virtually disappeared from the scene.
We kept getting a second slot in the Champions League simply because of the way that Dynamos used to punch above their weight and do very well on the continent.
Even the best clubs in Africa dreaded being paired against the Glamour Boys and a trip to Harare usually ended up in misery for a lot of them.
Their biggest city rivals CAPS United are also not faring any better.
The Green Machine have started the season poorly and, like Dynamos, have only won once all season.
This week CAPS United parted company with long-serving team manager Shakespear Chinogwenya who, in the eyes of some of their fans, has been a big part of the soul of the Green Machine.
A humble and hardworking man, Chinogwenya loved Makepekepe and gave his all for the club and it’s unfortunate that he has been caught up in all these conspiracy theories as the Green Machine struggle on the pitch.
I will always like and respect Chinogwenya because he genuinely loves CAPS United and any suggestions that he can work against the interests of the club are wild and foolish.
SCOTTLAND’S RETURN SO FAR HAS BEEN FAIR
If CAPS United fail to win the league championship this year, it will mark the ninth year they have done so but, in my little book, this is not a crisis.
The grim reality is that CAPS United are not made from the cloth that produces clubs which win the championship on a regular basis and five league titles, in 52 years, at an average of one league title every 10 years, tells the whole story.
This is a club which took 16 years, after Independence, for them to be crowned champions when Steve Kwashi and his swashbuckling side were crowned champions in 1996.
But, what cannot be argued is that CAPS United, Dynamos and Highlanders are the heart and soul of football in this country and if they sneeze, the domestic Premiership catches a cold.
For me, this is where our focus should be because when we talk about these three clubs we are talking about Zimbabwean football.
For us to focus on Scottland, who only arrived in the domestic Premiership a few months ago, is a diversion from the real issues that matter – the slow and painful deaths of our giants.
How is it right that the combined total of points for Dynamos and CAPS United, at this point of the season, is 10 and that is two points behind what Scottland have accrued so far this season?
How can we say Scottland are struggling to justify all the hype they created when they can donate the point they won against Highlanders and the point they won against FC Platinum and still have as many points as the combined total which both Dynamos and CAPS United have?
Scottland have won three times in the league, which is a decent return for a club which is a loose coalition of players still trying to find ways of how they can play with each other.
Combined, Dynamos and CAPS United have won only twice and this means that Scottland can donate their win over the Green Machine and still have as many wins as the two giants combined.
Scottland have scored nine goals this season, Dynamos have two, including an own goal, while CAPS United have four goals.
If we combine the goals which DeMbare and Makepekepe have scored, we get six goals and combined we find that they will still be three goals short of what Scottland have scored.
The Mabvuku side have conceded four goals this season, which is half the eight goals which Makepekepe have conceded.
For a team which has played CAPS United, Highlanders, FC Platinum and Ngezi Platinum, and sit in fourth place, just five behind the leaders who are coming from beating DeMbare, I think Scottland have a fair return so far.
Yes, their high-profile signings attract interest, but that should not distract us from trying to understand why a club like CAPS United find themselves second-from-the-bottom of the table with the same number of points as the bottom club.
That should not distract us from asking questions as to why Dynamos have only won once in seven games and find themselves in 14th place, just two points ahead of CAPS United.
Scottland have created a buzz and we all agree with that but that should not deflect focus from why the traditional giants, who are the heart and soul of our football, are struggling so badly.
If the league is called off today, a fourth-place finish for Scottland will be a fair reward for them.
But what will we say about Dynamos and CAPS United?
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 in the struggle.
Come on Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Khamaldinhoooooooooooooooooo!
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