TWENTY YEARS AGO, THE WARRIORS MADE HISTORY. . . and George Mbwando was one of them

Sports Reporter

GEORGE Mbwando is a member of the Warriors pioneer Class of 2004 which became the first group of Zimbabwean players to feature at the AFCON finals.

Today, 20 years after Mbwando and his teammates made history, a group of Warriors will be hoping to qualify for our sixth appearance at the AFCON finals.

Mbwando has been going down memory lane and remembered a day when a police recruit told him that one day Zimbabwe will take part in the tournament.

That was in 1991 just after the Warriors had suffered a heart-breaking home defeat to Congo-Brazzaville at the National Sports Stadium.

The late goalkeeper John Sibanda was blamed for the defeat and Mbwando was part of the crowd.

“That’s when I realised I was a football junkie,” he noted on his social media pages.

“I used to live in my own football world.

“Years later, I forgave John Sibanda, who was a very good ‘keeper and one mistake destroyed (the) marvellous career he had but the nation never forgave him.

“I know he died a sad man.

“Wilfred Wilfred Tichaona Mugeyi was one of our childhood heroes, he won almost everything in his career, until today I have a lot of respect for the Mugeyi brothers.

“Some have never forgotten his miss against Cameron at the (2004) AFCON.

“I just don’t understand why we remember one mistake and forget all the good football.

“He and his twin brother William Mugeyi opened a lot of doors for Zimbabwean players in South Africa, growing up, as teenagers, we all wanted to be like them.”

He added:

“After the game against Cameron, we never talked a lot about the miss because we knew that that was very normal in football.

“Roberto Baggio missed a decisive penalty kick in the 1994 World Cup final against Brazil and Italy forgave him, Oliver Kahn made a blunder in World Cup final 2002 and Germany forgave him.

“Why is it so hard to forgive our own and appreciate their contributions to our game?

“I had tears rolling down my cheeks when the national anthem was playing (at the 2004 AFCON finals), remembering 14th of July 1991.

“We are finally there and I’m part of the team.

“To the Mugeyi twins, big up for the big contribution you made to Zimbabwe football, respect, and to mukoma John Sibanda sithi lala ngoqolo!

“You were one of the best ‘keepers of our time, that’s why you were chosen to represent ZIMBABWE.”