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Sharuko On Saturday
FOR a fleeting moment, time appeared to stand still, frozen by an announcement plucked straight out of hell, betrayed once again by the dirty politics that have been ravaging Africa’s football landscape for years and inflicting considerable shame on a night supposed to be one for the angels of its favourite game.

Not for the first time, and certainly not for the last time, the darkness of foul had triumphed over the beauty of fairness.

Khama Billiat looked confused, and to some extent dazed, shaken to the core by a stunning robbery, giving us an insight into what Kim Kardashian must have looked like moments after those daring robbers raided her exclusive hotel room and took away her expensive jewellery that night in Paris.

Or, probably, a diminutive clone of heavyweight boxer George Foreman, his senses having been knocked out by a powerful five-punch combination from the resilient Muhammad Ali in the eighth round of the Rumble in the Jungle at the Stade Tata Raphael in Kinshasa on October 30, 1974, with the giant boxer about to slump to the canvas.

The only difference is that, unlike Foreman before him, Billiat didn’t drop to the floor on that big stage in Abuja, even though the shock of the announcement had triggered an explosion of emotions, so pronounced on his boyish face, the punishing weight of the cruelty of the injustice was proving too big a load for his diminutive frame to carry.

Like in the Rumble in the Jungle, Billiat — with his boyish model features — had resembled Ali, a man blessed with both athletic prowess and charming good looks, while his rival to the throne, Dennis Onyango, with his dark features and imposing frame, could have passed for a latter day George Foreman.

And, like a true Warrior, Billiat battled to consume the disappointment of a battle that had been lost, probably conscious of the fact the war (the 2017 Nations Cup finals) was still there to be won, but the more he tried to smile, the more he gave us a grin.

The pain of losing what belonged to him clearly evident, the HD cameras feasting on his pain as they captured every layer of disappointment written all over his charming face, as he wondered why fate had conspired to rob him of his finest hour.

And, instead, relegate him into second place, the silver medal true champions never want.

This was supposed to be his biggest night, when his skills would be rewarded with a continental accolade no Zimbabwean footballer had won before in a quarter-of-a-century when these awards have been handed out, in what would have been a fitting tribute to a year in which he scaled new heights and became a talisman for club and country.

But, as one of the masters of an extended ceremony which, at times, looked more like a musical concert than an occasion to honour the continent’s best footballers, had told the audience — and millions watching the live broadcast of the event on television — Billiat had come second in the race for the Golden Ball given to the best footballer plying his trade on the continent.

He had arrived seemingly holding all the aces, the overwhelmingly odds-on favourite to be crowned the number one, in what was clearly a mismatch with the other two men standing — Onyango and Zambian captain Rainford Kalaba — and many had dubbed it a mere coronation, for Billiat, rather than a contest.

But, when the hour came, African football — as it always does — contaminated the purity of the occasion and, in a shock as big as Leicester City winning the English Premiership or Iceland knocking England out of Euro 2016, named Billiat as the runner-up while Onyango, his teammate at Mamelodi Sundowns and who also keeps goal for Uganda, was named the winner of the award.

Twitter exploded in rage, Facebook raged too, pointing — as it always does in such circumstances — an accusatory finger at CAF president Issa Hayatou, his influence on the voting pattern and his perceived hatred of everything Zimbabwean.

And, just like that, the wounds inflicted by that harsh decision by the same cartel, to take away our rights to host the 2000 Nations Cup finals, simply because Southern Africa had rebelled against the Cameroonian strongman and voted for Sepp Blatter in the FIFA presidential election of ’98, rather than Hayatou’s preferred candidate Lennart Johansson of Sweden, which had begun to heal over the years, were opened again by a decision from hell that went against us.

For the umpteenth time, we had to nurse the emotional wounds inflicted by this ruthless group of powerful individuals, and we all felt for our boy, our Khama, our Billiat, our Khamaldinho, our Gaucho, wondering why he should pay a big price for the actions of his fathers, why he should be made the sacrificial lamb in a powerful battle for the control of African football in which he isn’t a player and why his mere nationality should be used to punish and embarrass him like this.

And, as he stood alone on that big stage, confused by the events of the night, there was no disguising the pain that had been inflicted on him by what had just happened, and having spent the week feeling being unwanted by the media back home which went ballistic to attack him before his national team coach leapt to his defence, he now felt rejected by a continent he had charmed with his football skills in the year gone by.

I felt for Khama, not because he is Zimbabwean just like me, but because he had been kicked on the backside by the dirty politics of African football, a victim of some power games that will never end.

FOR GOODNESS SAKE, HOW DID ONYANGO WIN THIS AWARD?

In the South African Premiership, where both Khama and Onyango ply their trade, the Zimbabwean was voted the best footballer, the players’ best footballer, the fans’ best footballer and he also walked away with the best midfielder of the season award, as he dominated the awards ceremony just a few months ago.

He became the first player, in the history of Super Diski, to provide 20 assists in one season.

If Onyango was rewarded for helping Uganda qualify for their first Nations Cup finals, since 1978, after coming second in a group that featured Botswana and Comoros, what about Khama, who was the star of the Warriors’ successful Nations Cup qualifying campaign, as they returned to the big stage after a 10-year absence, scoring three goals and providing as many assists?

And such was the barbarism in the adjudication process that Khama’s other goal, against Malawi in Blantyre, was overlooked to suit the agenda of the adjudication panel of national coaches, technical experts and some media representatives who voted for these awards, and they said he scored TWO goals instead of THREE — one in Malawi, one against the Flames in Harare and the other against Swaziland.

When Callisto Pasuwa rightly decided to rest Khama, from the first half against Swaziland in Harare, the Warriors struggled to make an impression and the game was goalless at the break but, once he was brought in at the start of the second half, it was a different ball game as he created a goal for Costa Nhamoinesu and also scored one in a 4-0 rout.

We can’t bring in the World Cup qualifiers here, which Onyango played in and Khama didn’t, because Uganda only played two World Cup matches and you can’t tell me the ‘keeper, in those games, did something out of this world to merit gathering so many points he ended up beating Billiat for the big award?

The reality is that without Khama, it’s unlikely that Sundowns would have ended up as winners of the CAF Champions League because, if you care to follow their journey closely, you will see that, at crucial stages in that adventure, it was the Zimbabwean who provided the X-Factor that made the difference between being knocked out and progressing.

Without Onyango, of course, one can argue that Sundowns would still have ended up as winners of the CAF Champions League because there isn’t one game that anyone can pick out that suggests that if it had not been for the ‘keeper’s heroics, Pitso Mosimane and his men would have been dumped out of the competition.

After all, even when they beat Enyimba 2-1 in Pretoria, a key result in their battle to qualify for the semi-final, it wasn’t Onyango who was in goals, but Wayne Sandilands.

Now, without an injured Khama in Bulawayo, in the first leg of their first round tie, Sundowns crashed to a 0-1 defeat at the hands of Chicken Inn and the Zimbabwean had to be rushed back into action, without being fully fit, for the second leg because Pitso needed his special player to make a difference even if he wasn’t 100 percent fit.

And, suddenly, with Khama in the team, Sundowns were a different side altogether, with the Zimbabwean creating the first goal by swinging in a devilish ball beyond the Chicken Inn wall to be headed home for the first goal, which restored parity in the aggregate scoreline, before — with penalties looming — he went on a mazy run only to be brought down for the penalty which the Brazilians converted to avoid the tricky shootout lottery and win 2-0 and advance.

He scored in the victory over Zamalek in Cairo, a crucial win in the group games, and when Sundowns were facing the tough task of having to overturn a two-goal leg deficit, in the Champions League semi-final as they trailed Zesco United 0-2 in Ndola, it was Khama who made the difference by scoring the priceless away goal in Zambia.

Somehow, a goalkeeper who conceded SIX goals in just two matches at the FIFA Club World Cup, is now being honoured as the best player in Africa while a forward who was outstanding throughout the season, for club and country, is ignored by a panel which votes on regional lines and where the influence of Hayatou and his cronies is clearly pronounced.

How do we explain how, among the national team coaches who voted, Billiat picked the fewest number one positions with his votes coming from Zimbabwe, Algeria, Liberia, Malawi and Namibia while Onyango picked 10 first place votes, including from South Africa, where Billiat had outshone him in that country’s awards?

Our colleagues in Lesotho, Madagscar and Mozambique voted for Hlompo Kekana while the Zambians, as expected, voted for their man in Kalaba.

But it is among the so-called CAF Technical and Development Committee, where Hayatou’s influence is paramount, where Khama was largely ignored with the Zimbabwean only having Kalusha Bwalya voting for him as the best while, among the media representative, Mark Gleeson went for Kekana when Khama had scooped all the awards in South Africa.

IF ONYANGO WAS THE BEST, WHY DIDN’T UGANDA HONOUR HIM AS SUCH?

The irony of these awards is that Onyango, who got the votes as the best in Africa, was not honoured as the best in his country last year with the Footballer of the Year going to a guy called Muhammed Shaban, who plays for a club called Onduparaka after the 18-year-old scored seven goals in his maiden season and won a call-up to the national team.

Faoruk Miya, who plays for Standard Liege in Belgium, was voted the fans’ best player of the year by the Ugandan football supporters, beating Onyango to the crown.

Now, how is it possible that someone who wasn’t deemed the best player in his country, either by the panel of experts who vote for that award, or the fans themselves who Charles “CNN” Mabika calls the owners of the game, even though I disagree because I believe the players are the owners of this game, a debate which can wait for another day, could then go on to win the best player of the year on the continent?

CAF named Uganda as the Team of the Year after the Cranes ended 36 years of waiting to qualify for the Nations Cup finals but if this is about sentiment, what about the Mighty Warriors who defied insurmountable odds to write one of Africa’s greatest football success stories by playing at their maiden Olympic Games tournament after having knocked Cameroon in the process?

If Uganda were the best team in Africa last year, doesn’t it also mean this was a balanced side, which wasn’t reliant on just one player, a goalkeeper for that matter, for its success story, and if that is the case how then does someone from such a team come to be named best player on the continent ahead of someone who did exceptionally well playing for a national team which CAF didn’t consider among its best three teams of the year?

Doesn’t this alone tell us that Khama was playing in an ordinary side, when it comes to his national team, and it was his heroics that lifted it to another level and, therefore, he deserved to be honoured, compared to someone playing in team considered to be the Team of the Year by the CAF machinery?

But it’s very clear to me that, once again, we are seeing the politics at CAF playing out and Hayatou, who faces a challenge for his presidency next year from members of the so-called Djibouti Declaration and, after his lieutenant Suketu Patel was rejected by COSAFA last year and Danny Jordaan withdrew from the poll having realised he was going to lose, the Cameroonian strongman isn’t going down without a fight.

That is why Kwesi Nyantakyi, the Ghanaian who was elected onto the FIFA executive on the basis of his patronage of Hayatou, CAF spokesman Junior Binyam, who in his previous role worked as the Cameroon Football Federation head of media and marketing, and the South African national technical team representative, didn’t vote for Billiat.

Most of their votes went to Onyango because East Africa has to be charmed, has to be split, has to be tamed, and there is no better way of doing that than giving Uganda the Team of the Year award and a Ugandan, Onyango, the Player of the Year award, so that the Djibouti declaration is split and weakened and Hayatou will survive the vote for the CAF presidency.

Ask yourself why Suketu Patel abstained from the vote for the best player?

But don’t cry for Khama, we know who the best player in Africa is, and we don’t need CAF to confirm that for us.

After all on Thursday night the CAF leadership forgot they had given Kelechi Iheanacho the award of Most Promising Player of the Year three years ago and proceeded to give him the same award this year even though, now at the ripe age of 20, he has already established himself in the Manchester City and Super Eagles first teams.

Now, are you telling me in the last three years, Iheanacho has only remained “promising” when he is now playing for Manchester City and the Super Eagles first teams and, if that is the case, doesn’t this suggest he hasn’t developed?

And why should he be given the Most Promising Player of the Year award, at 20, and Alex Iwobi, who plays for Arsenal and is the same age, is also given the award as the Youth Player of the Year for 2016?

Is it because they are both Nigerians and CAF didn’t want to anger their hosts and sponsors?

But we are to blame, we should have listened to Yaya Toure last year.

“I’m very, very disappointed,” he said after being snubbed by CAF for the Player of the Year award. “It’s sad to see Africa react this way, that they don’t think African achievements are important.

“I think this is what brings shame to Africa, because to act in that way is indecent. But what can we do about it? Us Africans, we don’t show that Africa is important in our eyes. We favour more what’s abroad than our own continent. That is pathetic.

“Even FIFA, with all its history of corruption, wouldn’t do this. I think that’s what makes the shame of Africa.”

TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

Come on Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Khamaldinhoooooooooooooooooooo!

Text Feedback – 0772545199

WhatsApp Messenger – 0772545199

Email – [email protected]

Skype – sharuko58

Chat with me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter @Chakariboy, interact with me on Viber or read my material in The Southern Times or on www.sportszone.co.zw. The authoritative ZBC weekly television football magazine programme, Game Plan, is back on air and you can interact with me and the legendary Charles “CNN” Mabika every Monday evening.

FOR a fleeting moment, time appeared to stand still, frozen by an announcement plucked straight out of hell, betrayed once again by the dirty politics that have been ravaging Africa’s football landscape for years and inflicting considerable shame on a night supposed to be one for the angels of its favourite game.Not for the first time, and certainly not for the last time, the darkness of foul had triumphed over the beauty of fairness.Khama Billiat looked confused, and to some extent dazed, shaken to the core by a stunning robbery, giving us an insight into what Kim Kardashian must have looked like moments after those daring robbers raided her exclusive hotel room and took away her expensive jewellery that night in Paris.Or, probably, a diminutive clone of heavyweight boxer George Foreman, his senses having been knocked out by a powerful five-punch combination from the resilient Muhammad Ali in the eighth round of the Rumble in the Jungle at the Stade Tata Raphael in Kinshasa on October 30, 1974, with the giant boxer about to slump to the canvas.The only difference is that, unlike Foreman before him, Billiat didn’t drop to the floor on that big stage in Abuja, even though the shock of the announcement had triggered an explosion of emotions, so pronounced on his boyish face, the punishing weight of the cruelty of the injustice was proving too big a load for his diminutive frame to carry.Like in the Rumble in the Jungle, Billiat — with his boyish model features — had resembled Ali, a man blessed with both athletic prowess and charming good looks, while his rival to the throne, Dennis Onyango, with his dark features and imposing frame, could have passed for a latter day George Foreman.And, like a true Warrior, Billiat battled to consume the disappointment of a battle that had been lost, probably conscious of the fact the war (the 2017 Nations Cup finals) was still there to be won, but the more he tried to smile, the more he gave us a grin.The pain of losing what belonged to him clearly evident, the HD cameras feasting on his pain as they captured every layer of disappointment written all over his charming face, as he wondered why fate had conspired to rob him of his finest hour.And, instead, relegate him into second place, the silver medal true champions never want.This was supposed to be his biggest night, when his skills would be rewarded with a continental accolade no Zimbabwean footballer had won before in a quarter-of-a-century when these awards have been handed out, in what would have been a fitting tribute to a year in which he scaled new heights and became a talisman for club and country.But, as one of the masters of an extended ceremony which, at times, looked more like a musical concert than an occasion to honour the continent’s best footballers, had told the audience — and millions watching the live broadcast of the event on television — Billiat had come second in the race for the Golden Ball given to the best footballer plying his trade on the continent.He had arrived seemingly holding all the aces, the overwhelmingly odds-on favourite to be crowned the number one, in what was clearly a mismatch with the other two men standing — Onyango and Zambian captain Rainford Kalaba — and many had dubbed it a mere coronation, for Billiat, rather than a contest.But, when the hour came, African football — as it always does — contaminated the purity of the occasion and, in a shock as big as Leicester City winning the English Premiership or Iceland knocking England out of Euro 2016, named Billiat as the runner-up while Onyango, his teammate at Mamelodi Sundowns and who also keeps goal for Uganda, was named the winner of the award.Twitter exploded in rage, Facebook raged too, pointing — as it always does in such circumstances — an accusatory finger at CAF president Issa Hayatou, his influence on the voting pattern and his perceived hatred of everything Zimbabwean.And, just like that, the wounds inflicted by that harsh decision by the same cartel, to take away our rights to host the 2000 Nations Cup finals, simply because Southern Africa had rebelled against the Cameroonian strongman and voted for Sepp Blatter in the FIFA presidential election of ’98, rather than Hayatou’s preferred candidate Lennart Johansson of Sweden, which had begun to heal over the years, were opened again by a decision from hell that went against us.For the umpteenth time, we had to nurse the emotional wounds inflicted by this ruthless group of powerful individuals, and we all felt for our boy, our Khama, our Billiat, our Khamaldinho, our Gaucho, wondering why he should pay a big price for the actions of his fathers, why he should be made the sacrificial lamb in a powerful battle for the control of African football in which he isn’t a player and why his mere nationality should be used to punish and embarrass him like this.And, as he stood alone on that big stage, confused by the events of the night, there was no disguising the pain that had been inflicted on him by what had just happened, and having spent the week feeling being unwanted by the media back home which went ballistic to attack him before his national team coach leapt to his defence, he now felt rejected by a continent he had charmed with his football skills in the year gone by.I felt for Khama, not because he is Zimbabwean just like me, but because he had been kicked on the backside by the dirty politics of African football, a victim of some power games that will never end.FOR GOODNESS SAKE, HOW DID ONYANGO WIN THIS AWARD?In the South African Premiership, where both Khama and Onyango ply their trade, the Zimbabwean was voted the best footballer, the players’ best footballer, the fans’ best footballer and he also walked away with the best midfielder of the season award, as he dominated the awards ceremony just a few months ago.He became the first player, in the history of Super Diski, to provide 20 assists in one season.If Onyango was rewarded for helping Uganda qualify for their first Nations Cup finals, since 1978, after coming second in a group that featured Botswana and Comoros, what about Khama, who was the star of the Warriors’ successful Nations Cup qualifying campaign, as they returned to the big stage after a 10-year absence, scoring three goals and providing as many assists?And such was the barbarism in the adjudication process that Khama’s other goal, against Malawi in Blantyre, was overlooked to suit the agenda of the adjudication panel of national coaches, technical experts and some media representatives who voted for these awards, and they said he scored TWO goals instead of THREE — one in Malawi, one against the Flames in Harare and the other against Swaziland.When Callisto Pasuwa rightly decided to rest Khama, from the first half against Swaziland in Harare, the Warriors struggled to make an impression and the game was goalless at the break but, once he was brought in at the start of the second half, it was a different ball game as he created a goal for Costa Nhamoinesu and also scored one in a 4-0 rout.We can’t bring in the World Cup qualifiers here, which Onyango played in and Khama didn’t, because Uganda only played two World Cup matches and you can’t tell me the ‘keeper, in those games, did something out of this world to merit gathering so many points he ended up beating Billiat for the big award?The reality is that without Khama, it’s unlikely that Sundowns would have ended up as winners of the CAF Champions League because, if you care to follow their journey closely, you will see that, at crucial stages in that adventure, it was the Zimbabwean who provided the X-Factor that made the difference between being knocked out and progressing.Without Onyango, of course, one can argue that Sundowns would still have ended up as winners of the CAF Champions League because there isn’t one game that anyone can pick out that suggests that if it had not been for the ‘keeper’s heroics, Pitso Mosimane and his men would have been dumped out of the competition.After all, even when they beat Enyimba 2-1 in Pretoria, a key result in their battle to qualify for the semi-final, it wasn’t Onyango who was in goals, but Wayne Sandilands.Now, without an injured Khama in Bulawayo, in the first leg of their first round tie, Sundowns crashed to a 0-1 defeat at the hands of Chicken Inn and the Zimbabwean had to be rushed back into action, without being fully fit, for the second leg because Pitso needed his special player to make a difference even if he wasn’t 100 percent fit.And, suddenly, with Khama in the team, Sundowns were a different side altogether, with the Zimbabwean creating the first goal by swinging in a devilish ball beyond the Chicken Inn wall to be headed home for the first goal, which restored parity in the aggregate scoreline, before — with penalties looming — he went on a mazy run only to be brought down for the penalty which the Brazilians converted to avoid the tricky shootout lottery and win 2-0 and advance.He scored in the victory over Zamalek in Cairo, a crucial win in the group games, and when Sundowns were facing the tough task of having to overturn a two-goal leg deficit, in the Champions League semi-final as they trailed Zesco United 0-2 in Ndola, it was Khama who made the difference by scoring the priceless away goal in Zambia.Somehow, a goalkeeper who conceded SIX goals in just two matches at the FIFA Club World Cup, is now being honoured as the best player in Africa while a forward who was outstanding throughout the season, for club and country, is ignored by a panel which votes on regional lines and where the influence of Hayatou and his cronies is clearly pronounced.How do we explain how, among the national team coaches who voted, Billiat picked the fewest number one positions with his votes coming from Zimbabwe, Algeria, Liberia, Malawi and Namibia while Onyango picked 10 first place votes, including from South Africa, where Billiat had outshone him in that country’s awards?Our colleagues in Lesotho, Madagscar and Mozambique voted for Hlompo Kekana while the Zambians, as expected, voted for their man in Kalaba.But it is among the so-called CAF Technical and Development Committee, where Hayatou’s influence is paramount, where Khama was largely ignored with the Zimbabwean only having Kalusha Bwalya voting for him as the best while, among the media representative, Mark Gleeson went for Kekana when Khama had scooped all the awards in South Africa.IF ONYANGO WAS THE BEST, WHY DIDN’T UGANDA HONOUR HIM AS SUCH?The irony of these awards is that Onyango, who got the votes as the best in Africa, was not honoured as the best in his country last year with the Footballer of the Year going to a guy called Muhammed Shaban, who plays for a club called Onduparaka after the 18-year-old scored seven goals in his maiden season and won a call-up to the national team.Faoruk Miya, who plays for Standard Liege in Belgium, was voted the fans’ best player of the year by the Ugandan football supporters, beating Onyango to the crown.Now, how is it possible that someone who wasn’t deemed the best player in his country, either by the panel of experts who vote for that award, or the fans themselves who Charles “CNN” Mabika calls the owners of the game, even though I disagree because I believe the players are the owners of this game, a debate which can wait for another day, could then go on to win the best player of the year on the continent?CAF named Uganda as the Team of the Year after the Cranes ended 36 years of waiting to qualify for the Nations Cup finals but if this is about sentiment, what about the Mighty Warriors who defied insurmountable odds to write one of Africa’s greatest football success stories by playing at their maiden Olympic Games tournament after having knocked Cameroon in the process?If Uganda were the best team in Africa last year, doesn’t it also mean this was a balanced side, which wasn’t reliant on just one player, a goalkeeper for that matter, for its success story, and if that is the case how then does someone from such a team come to be named best player on the continent ahead of someone who did exceptionally well playing for a national team which CAF didn’t consider among its best three teams of the year?Doesn’t this alone tell us that Khama was playing in an ordinary side, when it comes to his national team, and it was his heroics that lifted it to another level and, therefore, he deserved to be honoured, compared to someone playing in team considered to be the Team of the Year by the CAF machinery?But it’s very clear to me that, once again, we are seeing the politics at CAF playing out and Hayatou, who faces a challenge for his presidency next year from members of the so-called Djibouti Declaration and, after his lieutenant Suketu Patel was rejected by COSAFA last year and Danny Jordaan withdrew from the poll having realised he was going to lose, the Cameroonian strongman isn’t going down without a fight.That is why Kwesi Nyantakyi, the Ghanaian who was elected onto the FIFA executive on the basis of his patronage of Hayatou, CAF spokesman Junior Binyam, who in his previous role worked as the Cameroon Football Federation head of media and marketing, and the South African national technical team representative, didn’t vote for Billiat.Most of their votes went to Onyango because East Africa has to be charmed, has to be split, has to be tamed, and there is no better way of doing that than giving Uganda the Team of the Year award and a Ugandan, Onyango, the Player of the Year award, so that the Djibouti declaration is split and weakened and Hayatou will survive the vote for the CAF presidency.Ask yourself why Suketu Patel abstained from the vote for the best player?But don’t cry for Khama, we know who the best player in Africa is, and we don’t need CAF to confirm that for us.After all on Thursday night the CAF leadership forgot they had given Kelechi Iheanacho the award of Most Promising Player of the Year three years ago and proceeded to give him the same award this year even though, now at the ripe age of 20, he has already established himself in the Manchester City and Super Eagles first teams.Now, are you telling me in the last three years, Iheanacho has only remained “promising” when he is now playing for Manchester City and the Super Eagles first teams and, if that is the case, doesn’t this suggest he hasn’t developed?And why should he be given the Most Promising Player of the Year award, at 20, and Alex Iwobi, who plays for Arsenal and is the same age, is also given the award as the Youth Player of the Year for 2016? Is it because they are both Nigerians and CAF didn’t want to anger their hosts and sponsors? But we are to blame, we should have listened to Yaya Toure last year.“I’m very, very disappointed,” he said after being snubbed by CAF for the Player of the Year award. “It’s sad to see Africa react this way, that they don’t think African achievements are important.“I think this is what brings shame to Africa, because to act in that way is indecent. But what can we do about it? Us Africans, we don’t show that Africa is important in our eyes. We favour more what’s abroad than our own continent. That is pathetic.“Even FIFA, with all its history of corruption, wouldn’t do this. I think that’s what makes the shame of Africa.”TO GOD BE THE GLORY!Come on Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Khamaldinhoooooooooooooooooooo!Text Feedback – 0772545199WhatsApp Messenger – 0772545199Email – [email protected] – sharuko58Chat with me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter @Chakariboy, interact with me on Viber or read my material in The Southern Times or on www.sportszone.co.zw. The authoritative ZBC weekly television football magazine programme, Game Plan, is back on air and you can interact with me and the legendary Charles “CNN” Mabika every Monday evening.