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Where do we start from really?

Maybe the stunning human Yellow Wall of gold and black that emerged in the stand behind the goal at Borussia Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion, which provided a captivating graphic of a bond between fans and their football club bound together by the pursuit of greatness?

Or the delirium that erupted at the Camp Nou, once the Magical Messi had been thrown into the fray and quickly imposed himself on the game, starting the move that ended with Pedro firing home a priceless equaliser as Barcelona staggered into the semi-finals of the Champions League?

Maybe the outpouring of goodwill that went towards brave Paris St-Germain, even in their moment of heartbreak, as the French press led the way, and the world agreed, that the men from France had played their full part in an enthralling drama.

Or the incredible scenes of bedlam, which exploded at the Ali Sami Yen Stadium in Istanbul on Tuesday night, after the ageless Didier Drogba had back-heeled a cheeky goal to give Galatasaray a 3-1 lead, and 18 minutes to search for two goals that could have given them an improbable win against mighty Real Madrid?

Maybe the sea of euphoria at the Westfalenstadion, when Borussia Dortmund completed the greatest comeback in the Champions League history since that incredible night, at the Camp Nou in 1999, when Manchester United came back from a goal down, to score twice in time added on, with the German giants also scoring twice, in time added on, for an improbable win over Malaga? Or the masterclass that majestic Bayern Munich handed to the Old Lady of Italian football, Juventus, at their Stade delle Alpi Stadium, in their 2-0 victory to complete a 4-0 whitewash, as Germany’s most successful soccer team thrust itself into prime position, to try and win the European crown, just a year to the day their dreams crumbled inside their own stadium, as they lost a heartbreaking penalty shootout to Chelsea?

Maybe the majesty of Ronaldo’s performance, which keeps rising a notch as the level of the challenge increases, and the Portuguese superstar scored twice again in Turkey to provide the difference for Real Madrid, just like the way he had done in the last round against Manchester United with goals in Madrid and Manchester, to take his tally in the competition to 11 goals?

Or the global sympathy that was extended to little Malaga, who came within minutes of turning into a David that knocked out mighty Goliath, but eventually suffered a brutal defeat, and a painful elimination, as a combination of sustained pressure, and the odd poor refereeing decisions that favoured the home team, kept Dortmund alive and sent them out of the tourney?

Maybe the stunning impact that Lionel Messi made, when he finally came on board in the second half with his team facing elimination, and twisted one way and then turned the other, eliminating two markers in the process and, in an instant, creating the pockets of space that Barcelona had so much desired, but had been so much denied all night, to manufacture the crucial goal that made all the difference?

You didn’t need to be a fan of any of the teams that were on show on Tuesday and Wednesday nights to enjoy the beauty of football, its charm extended beyond the barriers of regular supporters’ clubs to bewitch neutrals touched by the magic of what was on display, and as the light shined so brightly on this game we all took a bow and open our hearts, and souls, to be its loyal disciples.

Sights so lovely, scenes so beautiful and magic so pronounced, it was a sin not to be moved by such glamour, and the world danced on Tuesday and Wednesday nights to the wonderful sound of a game being played at a rhythm that represented excellence and Sepp Blatter, wherever he was, must have felt so good that this is what makes football the number one game on the globe and makes Fifa such a powerful sporting organisation.

Football has had its challenges, from racism to match-fixing, from hooliganism to fascism, from stadium disasters to referees plucked from hell, from diabolical administrators who look so much out of depth, with the demands of running the people’s game they turn into a cancer that begins to eat its soul from within to the corrupt ones who can use their financial clout to get things their way.

But the game has survived, as the world’s number one sporting discipline, because on the moments when it parades its full range of beautiful colours, as was the case on Wednesday and Thursday nights, it’s difficult not to fall in love with its carnival, virtually impossible not to be intoxicated by its magic and very unlikely not to stand up and notice that there is something good going on.

A full month, and a week, have passed since I told myself that my interests, in this year’s Champions League, were over after that Turkish referee plucked from hell decided to have a huge influence on the match by sending off Nani, and tilting the balance of power towards Real Madrid at Old Trafford, on a night we lost 1-2 and bowed on 2-3 on aggregate.

But I was wrong because, on the evidence of what I saw on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, there is more to football than my beloved Manchester United, and when the game could be played at such a high level, full of so many twists and turns, it could still be loved, even without the direct participation of your favourite team and, boy oh boy, it felt really good.

Maybe Fifa rankings don’t lie after all
The Fifa rankings have been the cause of widespread debate, and controversy, for some time now with many people questioning whether they represent the true status of the strength of international football teams, every month, or they are just a game played by the football governing body’s officials.

But, for once, I guess the Fifa rankings tell the true story of the balance of power in world football today and that Spain is the best team in the world is without question, and they have been for the past three years, and that Germany have become the second best team in the world is also widely accepted.

Spain, who lead the Fifa rankings released this week, have two teams in the Champions League semi-finals, and with a little bit of luck could have turned into the England of 2008 when Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool all swept into the semi-finals of the same competition with only Barcelona providing the outside opposition.

Germany, who are second on the Fifa rankings released this week, have two teams in the Champions League semi-finals and while Dortmund did it the hard way, Bayern were imperious in their destruction of Juventus, scoring four times without reply, and will move into their semi-final showdown against Barcelona with a spring in their step.

Portugal, who are ranked fifth on the Fifa rankings released this week, have a team in the semi-finals of the Europa League and while many people might have been surprised by Basel’s first semi-final appearance, at the expense of Tottenham, Switzerland certainly don’t look like a Mickey Mouse team at number 15 in the world in the latest rankings. The Portuguese influence in Real Madrid’s quest to win the Champions League is there for everyone to see and their star player, Cristiano Ronaldo, the skinny boy from Madeira who was converted into a football super machine in a journey that took him from Lisbon to Manchester and then to Madrid, has provided the lifeblood for the campaign with his glut of goals.

Coach Jose Mourinho, with his backroom staff of tried-and-tested Portuguese handlers, has also provided the technical expertise that has turned Real Madrid from a good team into a very good and efficient side that no longer looks at Barcelona as a superior side but as an opponent that can be beaten, on any day and at any stadium, including in the Camp Nou.

Argentina are ranked third in the world by Fifa and their influence in the current Champions League can be seen with Lionel Messi being the difference who turns Barcelona from a mean machine into an unplayable one, if he is on song, and it’s a safer bet to suggest that the Catalan giants would have been eliminated by PSG if their talisman had been ruled out of that game through injury.

Argentina’s influence in the Champions League isn’t only limited to Barcelona but even at Real Madrid you also feel the South American country’s touch and Angelo di Maria and Gonzalo Higuain might not play at the same level as Messi but they are classy stars and have played their parts to take Madrid to where they are today.

England are ranked seventh by Fifa this month and maybe, when you think about it, they deserve the one place they have in the semi-finals of the Europa League.
What the hell has happened to the Glamour Boys?

Dynamos waved goodbye to the Champions League on Sunday when they could only squeeze a 1-0 win, in a fruitless bid to overturn a huge first leg deficit, and for the third straight year, the Glamour Boys crashed out of the premier inter-club tourney on the continent after a poor show.

There will always be an alibi for Lloyd Mutasa and his boys, given the way the Egyptian referee displayed clear hostility towards their cause in that match against MC Alger, which they lost 0-3 to bow out on the away goals rule, because the playing field then was titled to favour the Algerians.

When an awesome DeMbare performance powered the Glamour Boys to a 4-1 victory, in the first leg of their first round Champions League tie at Rufaro on March 20, 2011, there was a general expectation that the soul of a powerful Dynamos team had been found.

And, with time, this could turn into a side capable of emulating the Class of ’98 and qualifying for the Champions League final.
For that team to destroy MC Alger, in such ruthless fashion, even without Archford Gutu, withdrawn because of a dispute between his management team and the Dynamos leadership, was spectacular and as people streamed out of Rufaro that day, they were so sure they had seen the rock solid foundation on which a great DeMbare side would be built.

After all, the star of that show, was a then 18-year-old Denver Mukamba, so good on that day he sent fans going down memory to the last time when a spiky-haired teenager arrived on the scene, with a huge explosion, and in due course turned himself into the heart and soul of the Glamour Boys.
His name was Moses Chunga.

Mukamba scored the goal of the match, the third for his team, when he faked this movement and that movement, all the time selling is markers dummies that were too good not to be bought, and from the edge of the box, at an angle, created enough space to curl his shot, seemingly effortlessly, beyond the ‘keeper for a goal made in heaven.
There were four different goal-scorers for Dynamos on that afternoon – Guthrie Zhokinyi (penalty), Rodreck Mutuma and Farai Vimisai.

Fast forward to 2013, just two years down the line, and you find out that ONLY TWO of the players, who featured in that First XI for Dynamos against MC Alger, lined up in the starting line-up for the Champions League tie against CA Bizertin at Rufaro on Sunday.

Thomas Magorimbo, who was played in a midfield role on Sunday, and Tawanda Muparati were the only survivors of the First XI that featured for Dynamos in that match against MC Alger at Rufaro two years ago.

Washington Arubi, David Kutyauripo, George Magariro, Vimisayi, Mukamba and Mutuma have left the club for one reason or another and that two of them, Arubi and Mukamba, were good enough to be crowned Soccer Star of the Year, highlights the quality of the talent drain that the Glamour Boys have suffered of late.

Devon Chafa was on the bench, Desmond Maringwa has retired, Zhokinyi remains sidelined by Asiagate and, of the three substitutes used that day, only Murape Murape was eligible to play on Sunday, Patrick Kumbula’s registration was late and bungled and Timire Mamvura moved elsewhere.

That Murape, as spirited a DeMbare son as they will ever come, today commands a First XI jersey in this team and was in the starting line-up on Sunday, when on that glorious afternoon, two years ago, he could only be introduced in the 88th minute, when the game had been won, demonstrates how the Glamour Boys have gone 10 steps backwards, in terms of the quality of their personnel, in the past two years.

It’s the men that they have lost, especially their quality, and their failure to bring in athletes, certainly not as good as those who left but good enough to wear the glue-and-white shirt, which has been their Achilles Heel and when you have a turnover of virtually an entire team, including the star players, in a period of two years, you know you are looking for trouble.

It’s not about taking a break from the Champions League or continuing with the African safari but about getting their house in order and when you are shipping an entire team in just two years it’s not the break that will help you but a clear focus on what should be done to retain quality and bring in the right people who can fire and not those who crumble under the weight of expectations.

Playing for a club like DeMbare is not only about talent, something that Cliff Sekete appears to have in abundance, but it’s about having the heart to compete and the soul to defy the odds, again and again, and that needs men of steel not small boys of faint hearts who crumble when 30 000 souls cry out for salvation.

Firing Callisto Pasuwa won’t be the solution because he is not the problem and we should commend him for the fire-fighting that he has been doing, just to keep his team competitive, and I was going through the newspaper files this week and came across a report on January 31 this year where the coach openly conceded, in a candid interview with this paper, that his team’s Champions League campaign was in a crisis.

He had lost Simba Sithole and Mutuma to South African clubs and he knew his team would be lightweight, in terms of their goal-scoring capacity, and three months down the line, with his team’s Champions League dreams now a heap of ruins, Pasuwa’s words have passed the test of time.

It hurts that DeMbare have become so ordinary, on the continent, because the Glamour Boys have been the football brand that has given us a good profile and just five years ago, when Edward Sadomba and company were making the semi-finals of the Champions League, their impact was being felt across the globe.

British newspaper, The Guardian, said if DeMbare won the tournament, against a background of their poor finances and the major challenges that were hammering at the country’s economy, it would be the greatest sporting achievement in the world that year.

The Glamour Boys are more than just a football team for this country, they are a powerful institution that, when the going was tough and days were dark in 2008, it provided the light that gave a shine to our national profile and their journey gave us many columns of favourable press reports in international newspapers.

But that’s all gone now and that’s what hurts.
They are smiling at the Green Machine

Football is a funny old game and in the year that many of the respected analysts were saying CAPS United would struggle badly, the Green Machine have shown early signs of life and two wins in their first three league games is a huge improvement from the nightmare of last year, Sean Connor and the circus that he brought to town.

Brenna Msiska has assembled a solid, rather than spectacular, side and has found some unpolished diamonds, notably roving leftback Ronald Pfumbidzai, so comfortable on the ball and so technical, he has overtaken Ocean Mushure, in my pecking order, for the best left fullbacks in the country right now.

Suddenly Arnold Chivheya, playing in central defence, looks a different and solid player, as he profits from the warmth of fans who had turned against him during the bad days, while George Magariro, who crossed the Great Divide, has settled in very well at his new employers after being told he was excess to requirements at DeMbare.

Midfielder Hardlife Zvirekwi is quickly assuming the role of team leader and, for good measure, too, and his rapid rise, from someone who was virtually unknown while at Gunners last year, to one of the premier players on the domestic scene today, has been phenomenal.

If there is an Achilles Heel in this CAPS United team, then it has to be the way they have been losing steam in every second half but that’s something that can be sorted out, with time, as the players get to know each other and the pressure gets less and less.

Unlike previous seasons, this is a CAPS United side that is not chained to any pressures, noone mentioned them as one of the favourites for the league championship this season, their coach repeatedly said he was busy putting together a team to worry about winning the league and their fans, crucially, have given their boys a chance to express themselves without carrying the heavy baggage of great expectations.

They look like a good happy family right now although time will provide the best test but if they win against Buffaloes today to make it nine, out of 12 points, they would have exceeded expectations by a mile.

That’s why they say football is the world’s most beautiful game and it’s not about the grand sights and sounds of the Champions League that matter but even what is happening on our football fields and, just in case you doubt that, ask the Green Machine fans.
To God Be The Glory!
Come on United!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chicharitooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

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