STEVIE G REMINDS ME, IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE, OF THE IMMORTAL JOEL SHAMBO
STEVEN GERRARD, one of the greatest players of his generation, this week announced his retirement from football sparking a mainstream and social media frenzy as tributes poured in from all over the world in honour of his distinguished service to the game and a unique talent that illuminated our sport. He spent virtually his entire glittering career, a very good 17 years of service at his beloved Liverpool and even the Reds of Merseyside represent the ultimate enemy for someone like me, a die-harder Manchester United fan, the fact that Stevie G was special wasn’t lost in the mist of the hatred that exists between the two fierce rivals.

That Gerrard hated my United is something he didn’t hide, but that’s what one expects from true Liverpool people, but that didn’t dilute his special quality and although we didn’t admit it openly, he was one player from the old enemy we yearned for and conceded he would have added value to our Red Devils.

Liverpool have had many better players than Gerrard over the years and Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness and John Barnes — in my little book — were better than him, but it’s very unlikely that any of them had as much influence, as individuals, on this iconic football club than Stevie G.

In March last year, the influential English newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, published a list of their 50 greatest Liverpool players of all-time and they put Gerrard at the top, as the greatest of them all, even though his trophy cabinet doesn’t include a league title after spending his career in the shadows of a Manchester United success story.

“A contention choice ahead of Dalglish, but the context in which Gerrard won his trophies — in consistently reshaped teams and (playing) alongside many average players — edges him into top spot,” The Telegraph argued.

And I agree with them.

For Gerrard didn’t play for an All-Star Liverpool team that dominated English football, like his predecessors, but played for a Reds side empire had long crumbled, their dominance of the domestic scene ended by Sir Alex Ferguson and his Manchester United side who had knocked them off their perch.

But, still, Gerrard inspired his Liverpool to greatness, usually single-handedly providing the spark for that success, from the Miracle in Istanbul when he picked his men from the canvas, after they had slumped to a 0-3 first half deficit against a rampant AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final, to turn the game on its head in the second half and tie the match at 3-3 before going on to win the penalty shootout.

Liverpool, a dominant figure in Europe in the ‘80s, hadn’t been crowned European champions for 21 years when they arrived in Istanbul for that showdown against AC Milan and their nerves showed in that first half as they were taken apart by the Italians amid fears the Reds would be humiliated by the end of the contest.

But Gerrard inspired them on an incredible comeback, one for the ages, leading from the front, as he usually did, as he headed home to reduce the deficit before winning a penalty which Xabi Alonso converted for the equaliser to shock the world and force the game into extra-time and penalties which Liverpool won.

He called it “the best moment of my life” and for good measure too.

Then, a year later, he was the heart and soul of that sensational comeback, from 0-2 down in the FA Cup final, setting up Djibril Cisse to halve the deficit and then, with only seconds remaining on the clock, hammering home a sweet drive, from about 30 metres, to force extra-time and another penalty shootout which Liverpool won against West Ham.

Gerrard, of course, will also always be remembered, by critics, as that great player who never won the league title and considering that he inspired Liverpool to success in Europe, twice appearing in the Champions League final, he can’t argue that he didn’t have a team good enough to be champions of England.

And, as fate would have it, when Liverpool appeared on course to end that nightmare, the football gods punched Gerrard in the face, as he lost his footing in that game against Chelsea at Anfield, of all places, leaving Demba Ba with a clear route on goal with the Chelsea striker drilling the ball home in what was the beginning of the end of the Reds’ campaign.

Gerrard also has an army of critics who say that while he was outstanding for Liverpool he never reached those heights in an England shirt and given that, for a time he was the captain of the side, they feel he let down his country big time at a time when it looked to him to provide the inspiration.

One of the best football writers in the world today, if not the very best, is a guy called Martin Samuel, who writes for the Daily Mail of England and if you really enjoy reading about football, I suggest that you read a lot of this big guy’s stuff.

In the wake of the 2014 World Cup disaster in Brazil, Martin wrote a typical good piece about the footballer, saying that while he had illuminated Anfield and shone in the Liverpool jersey and has a right to claim membership of those who can be called great, he came short for his national team and just like his failure to win a league title, it’s something that will always haunt him.

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARTIN SAMUEL

“It is pointless asking Steven Gerrard where it all goes wrong. Gerrard is where it all goes wrong,” Samuel wrote.

“Not just in this tournament, not just with the odd mistake of a player raging against the dying of the light, but from the very start, from his earliest days as an international footballer.

“All those times when we looked and wondered what happened to the Gerrard we knew, the one in the red shirt, a hero of the modern game. That was it going wrong. That was it right there.

“Name Gerrard’s greatest performance for Liverpool. It is impossible to stop at one — the second half of the 2005 Champions League final; the FA Cup final in 2006; that Champions League tie against Olympiacos in 2004; the 3-0 win over Everton in 2012; Napoli in the Europa League in 2010; as a 21-year-old against Manchester United in 2001.

“Anfield regulars would not stop there. They could add another 50, maybe 100. Southampton, New Year’s Day, 2001; Marseille in 2008. Games that Liverpool would not have won without Gerrard, the pumping heartbeat.

“Now do the same with Gerrard and England. Several of those who have seen each one of his 113 appearances tried it yesterday. There was a consensus on Andorra away in 2007 under Steve McClaren. And not a whole lot else.

“He was very good when England beat Germany 5-1 in Munich, but so were a lot of players. There was a friendly against Hungary immediately after the 2010 World Cup, when he stopped the Fabio Capello backlash reaching its shrill crescendo.

“Yet Gerrard’s malaise is England malaise. Just as the national team is less than the sum of its parts, so his century of England appearances do not amount to his best 10, maybe his best five, for Liverpool.

“Gerrard, an admirable individual of great honesty and often given to brutal self-analysis, admits as much. On the occasion of his 100th cap, he said he had played six or seven good games for England.

“Yet it is impossible to divorce Gerrard’s legacy as a player from the decade or so of underachievement from what was a highly promising England group.

“It is as if someone has pulled the plug on The Beatles, chucked a blanket over Gainsborough, brought the curtain down on Larry Olivier. This is one of the finest footballers we will ever see. And we’re harking back to a golden hour against Andorra.”

STEVIE G REMINDS ME SO MUCH OF A GENIUS CALLED JOEL SHAMBO

In the week that Gerrard announced his retirement, CAPS United stand on the verge of one of their greatest triumphs — if not the greatest of them all — should they hold their nerve in Gweru this afternoon and complete the job against a plucky Chapungu waiting in ambush as party spoilers at Ascot.

The Green Machine have won four league titles in their history, a poor return if you ask me, given the great players who have donned their famous green-and-white shirt and that their biggest rivals Dynamos have won 21, including twice in their history winning four on the trot, puts Makepekepe’s failures into context.

Can you believe it that throughout the ‘80s, when some feel CAPS United were at their strongest, the Green Machine didn’t even win one single league championship while the likes of Zimbabwe Saints came to the party, Black Rhinos even won two during that period and Dynamos dominated it with seven titles, I’m sure?

Think about some of the greatest CAPS United players of the ‘80s, Oscar Motsi, he played football with a rhythm they even called him Simbimbino, Shacky Tauro, the greatest goalscorer of his generation, Friday Phiri, they called him Amayenge because he could make them sing with joy, Never Chiku, the stealth bomber they called Maswerasei and tell me why a team as good as that could not win the championship in that decade?

And, of course, they had Joel Shambo, as good a midfielder as they will ever come, so influential, like Stevie G, they even called The Headmaster, Mwalimu, Jubilee and as Choga Tichatonga Gavhure would say in his immortal commentaries, “mazita kuita kupfekerana.”

But that team didn’t win the championship throughout the ‘80s and it wasn’t until 1996, thanks to the arrival of a number of players poached from Darryn T via Blackpool, that the Green Machine found a way to be champions, ending a 17-year wait, having won their first title in 1979 when the likes of Shambo were in their youths.

Shambo, more than any other player, reminds me of Steven Gerrard because he was unplayable for the Green Machine, as good as any player you will ever see, yet he didn’t reproduce the same impact in the national team.

Like Gerrard, Shambo was a bastion of loyalty to his Green Machine and when his colleagues like Stanford “Stix” Mtizwa and Stanley “Sinyo” Ndunduma were lured by the promises that Black Rhinos put on the table and left to join Chipembere, Jubilee resisted all those charms and remained at his beloved CAPS United.

And, like Gerrard, one of his finest matches came in a six-goal thriller of that unforgettable Chibuku Trophy final against Rhinos which ended 3-3 with Shacky scoring twice for Makepekepe and Amayenge scoring the other goal.

Sadly, for the Green Machine, they lost the replay 2-1 with Stix, one of their old boys, scoring for Rhinos, but even though they lost, Shambo’s legacy actually grew simply because he had chosen to remain a part of them and that is why he will always be celebrated as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, CAPS United son of all-time.

They also remember the starring role he played in that seven-goal demolition of the old enemy Dynamos.

And, as the CAPS United family pray for another league title this afternoon, many will be convinced that Jubilee’s spirit will be with them at Ascot this afternoon as they attempt to clear the final hurdle and become champions again.

History favours CAPS United because, in the 23 seasons of the modern era of the PSL, only twice has a team that led the race in Week 29 failed to complete the marathon as winners.

And, on both occasions, the Green Machine were heavily involved.

First, they spoiled the party for ZPC Kariba, who had taken the leadership of the race in Week 29 by beating Dynamos 2-1, by beating the Kariba side 3-2 at the National Sports Stadium and with DeMbare beating How Mine 2-0 at Rufaro, the helicopter that delivers the championship trophy turned to Rufaro where the Glamour Boys were honoured as champions.

Then, three years ago, Harare City took full control of the race in Week 29 by thrashing Highlanders 4-0 at Rufaro but then were held to a 2-2 draw by Makepekepe in the final game and Dynamos beat Black Mambas 2-0 at Rufaro to be crowned champions. Maybe, who knows, the football gods are about to punish CAPS United in the worst possible manner, for wrecking the championship dreams of ZPC Kariba and Harare City, by providing a hurdle that will be too high for them to clear at Ascot today.

But the superstitious ones will say that a team that thrashes Bosso in Week 29, as Harare City did at Rufaro in 2013 and FC Platinum did at Mandava on Sunday, is always doomed to ultimately fail in this race.

Given what Makepekepe have gone through this season, the challenges they have faced, there are some neutrals who are in their corner wishing them all the best and that is why I believe, if they can win it, this could represent their greatest triumph.

Steven Gerrard, who was born on May 30, 1980, just a few months after Shambo and his CAPS United teammates won their first league title, has waved goodbye to a stellar playing career and for the Green Machine family, maybe it’s meant to be that — just days after the English talisman called it quits — their team will be crowned champions.

CHRONOLOGY OF CHAMPIONS

TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

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

Khamaldinhoooooooooooooooooo!

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