Vusumuzi Dube
Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
AMID social media trolls on the 43rd Independence celebrations venue, Pfura Stadium in Mt Darwin in Mashonaland Central Province where Highlanders successfully defended their title against Dynamos, former Warriors star Johannes Ngodzo believes locals were inspired to watch giants in action.
On Tuesday, 18 April, Zimbabwe celebrated her 43rd birthday in Mt Darwin with the celebrations spiced up by a clash between the country’s giants, Highlanders and Dynamos.
The Bulawayo giants, Highlanders pocketed a cool US$35 000 for successfully defending their Independence Cup after beating arch-rivals Dynamos 5-3 on penalties.
Bosso showed great character playing with zeal as they fought to the end after their defender Andrew Mbeba was shown a red card in the 32nd minute for a crude lunge on DeMbare striker, Nyasha Chintuli.
Despite being a man down for 58 minutes, Highlanders gave a good fight and when the game went for the penalty lottery, skipper Ariel Sibanda dived to his left to save Emmanuel Paga’s attempt.
Sibanda was the first to score, with Brighton Manhire, Melikhaya Ncube, McKinnon Mushore and Peter Muduhwa following suit. Muduhwa scored the winning penalty.
For Dynamos, Donald Dzvinyai, Arthur Musiyiwa and Ellie Ilunga were on target. But as action moved from one end to another, locals in Mt Darwin enjoyed every bit. Some were seeing both giants live for the first time.
Former Highlanders and national team midfielder Ngodzo, who participated in a number of exhibition games in areas such as Tsholotsho, Filabusi, Plumtree and rural Gweru during his active years, said taking the game to Mt Darwin had a positive impact.
“There are a lot of positives to pick up, besides celebrating Independence Day in a different environment, high level football was taken to the people.
Both Highlanders and Dynamos should be commended for fielding their strong teams. I know that there are a number of youngsters who got inspired to take football seriously after watching Bosso and DeMbare play in Mt Darwin.
Football has a way of giving hope to ambitious youngsters and that hope strengthens when you see your idols or people you read about or hear about on radio right in front of you,” said Ngodzo.
However, the ex-Bosso star appealed to the Government to work on facilities so that they don’t expose players to injuries.
“Fortunately, we haven’t heard of anyone who picked up an injury in that highly competitive match we saw in Mt Darwin.
My plea is that the relevant Government Ministry responsible for organising Independence celebrations should at least work on the sports field where players will play in advance,” said Ngodzo.
— Follow on Twitter @ZililoR
Online Reporter