TO THEM, GUARDIOLA IS A FERRARI…

WHEN I dared suggest that Callisto Pasuwa — whose Golden Generation of Warriors could match the Dream Team’s record of completing a Nations Cup campaign unbeaten if they avoid defeat in Guinea tomorrow — was cut from the cloth that makes special coaches, it provoked a fierce backlash from critics.Some of the critics, who include my fellow football writers, went ballistic saying I had insulted Pep Guardiola and probably lost my mind for daring to mention him in my report where I argued that Pasuwa — just like the brilliant Spanish tactician — was part of a special breed of football coaches.

I am told such was the intensity of the arguments, on a WhatsApp group where my fellow football writers discuss their issues, where I’m not a member by choice, got so heated and even spiralled out of control, some people ended up insulting each other because they could not find common ground.

Well, for me, that is what sports journalism should be all about — provoking debate, among newspaper readers and fans because in this social media age where it’s becoming rare for newspapers to publish breaking news, we can only remain relevant by publishing stuff that generates such interest.

If the article could spark interest, and furious debate among the football writers themselves, one can only wonder the kind of interest and debate it provoked among the fans and whether in the end more people disagreed with it is irrelevant.

Refreshingly, some of the guys that I have a lot of respect for, if not for their professionalism then for their all-round abilities in that they can excel in football writing as much as they can do in cricket, rugby and a number of other sports codes, led by the versatile Enock Muchinjo, one of the best writers of our generation, understood the context of what I was trying to put across.

Those who were riled by the article believe coaches like Pep walk on the moon, they are a rare breed whose names should never be abused by being mentioned anywhere when issues related to “ordinary” gaffers like Pasuwa are discussed because they are from different leagues, different worlds and completely different levels.

To them, the charismatic Spaniard is a Ferrari, a super car custom-made for the glitz of Formula One, a model plucked from the world’s most powerful brand, with a member of its family, the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO, becoming the most expensive car sold in history when it was bought by American tycoon, Craig McCaw, for US$38.1 million in a private transaction in May 2012.

Poor Pasuwa, to them, is an old-model 1938 VW Beetle, made for a school run, and should never be mentioned in a script where the likes of Pep are being talked about.

The likes of Pep, they argue, are thoroughbred race horses, like Queen’s Logic, Black Caviar, Pepper’s Pride, White Moonstone and Raise A Native — who completed their careers unbeaten — specifically bred for the big stage of such iconic races like the Kentucky Derby and Dubai World Cup.

The likes of Pasuwa, according to them, are just ordinary horses whose stage will always be Borrowdale and Ascot.

Some even had the temerity to say I owe Pep an apology, as if they had become his legal representatives, for daring to mention his name in an article that celebrated Pasuwa’s glory, because the Manchester City gaffer was a stand-out individual, in a special breed of professional coaches, who have revolutionised world football through their scientific approach and obsession for perfection.

Of course, I never said Pasuwa was in the same class as Pep, even though the similarity of the initials of their names would give a creative tabloid newspaper headline writer with a dream combination for something to work on, because I know that our coach hasn’t scaled the heights that have been touched by the brilliant Spaniard.

Only a fool will live in a world of denial that Pep is in a different class altogether, in a different world altogether, his scientific approach something to behold and when he arrived at Bayern Munich he demanded that the lawn at their Allianz Arena and the Sabener training ground be cut to precisely 17 millimetres and sprayed with lots of water so that the ball runs faster.

Jason Burt, the football correspondent of British newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, noted that Pep’s obsession with “attention to detail is symptomatic of Guardiola’s obsessive belief that his players prepare and play with geometric precision,” and during a Bayern training camp in Italy, ‘keeper Manuel Neuer was “tied to a goalpost by a piece of elastic to increase his spring and reach.”

What I simply said was that Pasuwa was special, and — as my Game Plan colleague Barry Manandi always says, ‘it’s my story and I’m sticking to it’ — he reminds me of Pep Guardiola.

And having dug into their history I found it fascinating, worth providing an angle and substance for an article, given that they had both been central midfielders during their playing days, won league titles with leading clubs in their respective countries, came back to coach those clubs — at a young age — and enjoyed phenomenal success.

Our infographic specialist, Wellington Ziduche, then found it quite fascinating and drew a graphic centred on the two men which some of my colleagues now claim was out of order because one cannot let Pasuwa and Pep stand on common ground since, according to them, they belong to different worlds.

WHY DO WE BELITTLE OUR HEROES SO MUCH?

When you consider the tough conditions Pasuwa has been working under, including starting this Nations Cup campaign with players who were revolting against a hopeless domestic football leadership leading to their refusal to board the plane for the flight to Malawi, only for them to undertake a 598km road trip overnight and arriving in Blantyre just hours before the game, then you have to appreciate the pedigree of the coach.

Before even the celebrations triggered by that victory in Malawi — which was even cheered by FIFA as a triumph of determination against adversity — had even died down, Pasuwa quit the Warriors because the Association had not paid him his salary for months which meant that, instead of our coach concentrating on the next assignment against Guinea, he was fighting his employers for his dues.

That impasse was only resolved in the week that Guinea arrived here, and Pasuwa — after being paid — then availed his squad and to their credit, with all the chaos in his camp, forced a draw against the West Africans.

But the drama was just beginning, as it was announced later that Pasuwa had been fired, then reinstated, a benefactor Wicknell Chivayo — who is in Guinea as I write to cheer the Warriors — came on board to pay the coach’s salary but, for all these distractions, he still kept his focus and his genius shone through this mist of confusion and, after 10 years of waiting, he delivered the ticket to the Nations Cup finals the country had been crying for.

He inherited a Warriors team that was ranked Number 37 in the draw for the 2017 Nations Cup finals, cast away among the hopeless nations expected to just make up the numbers in Pot 3, and such was our miserable plight that Lesotho, of all teams, were ranked higher than us at Number 31, Botswana (here vakomana, Number 28), Malawi (Number 25), Angola (Number 18), South Africa (Number 14) and Zambia (Number Eight).

His Number 37th team was fighting for a place among the top 15 who would qualify for Gabon and the odds against his Warriors were huge, some even said it was Mission Impossible, and when his players rebelled against the ZIFA leadership by refusing to board that plane to Malawi, there were some voices who mocked them saying they might as well just stay at home because, after all, they were going to lose the game.

But Pasuwa turned the Warriors into a winning side again, beating the Flames — who were ranked 12 places better than us in the draw — home and away (5-1 on aggregate) and hammered a vastly-improved Swaziland 4-0.

By close of business tomorrow, he could be the only coach to take a Southern African nation to the 2017 Nations Cup finals because Zambia, who were the top-ranked side from this region during the draw, have failed to make it while cash-rich Bafana Bafana will also be armchair viewers when the Gabon tournament starts.

When one considers Pasuwa’s men only had one international friendly, against Uganda at home, you can understand the special nature of his achievements and, just to highlight the challenges he has faced, and conquered, his Warriors were still stranded in Harare yesterday when they have a game against Guinea tomorrow.

Guinea, who have no chance of qualifying for Gabon, played a friendly international against Egypt on Tuesday while the Warriors, who should have started preparing for the 2017 Nations Cup finals, were again inactive, as has become the norm, yet their coach still manages to find a way for them to be successful.

Some might dismiss his achievements with the national team, saying he is a lucky chap in charge of some talented players, but why were the same players not qualifying when he wasn’t in charge and did he need luck, really, to win four straight league titles at Dynamos, including overhauling an 11-point deficit, when he took over in 2011, in the final 10 games?

PEP IS WORLD-CLASS BUT, JUST LIKE EVERYONE, HE IS HUMAN TOO

The same people quick to suggest that Pasuwa is being helped by the talents of Khama Billiat and Knowledge Musona, at the peak of their athletic powers, conveniently don’t want to also acknowledge that Pep’s coaching career was also shaped, to a large extent, by coaching a Barca side led by the best footballer in the world, Lionel Messi, at the peak of his athletic powers.

Pep was in charge of Barca between 2008 and 2012 and, during that period, Messi underlined his status as the best player in the world by winning the Ballon d’Or three times in a row in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

In 2010, the three best players in the world, according to the Ballon d’Or poll, were all from Barca — Messi, Iniesta and Xavi — in 2011 two of the three best players in the world, in the Ballon d’Or poll, were from Barca — Messi (first) and Xavi (third) — and in 2012 two of the three best players in the world — Messi (first) and Iniesta (third).

In 2009, Barca had five players in the UEFA Team of the Year — Dani Alves, Carlos Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta and Messi — and in 2010 Barca had six players in the UEFA Team of the Year — Pique, Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi and David Villa.

Pep is a genius, of course, but he is human too and after inheriting a Bayern Munich team that had just been crowned champions of Europe and which provided the majority of lavishly-talented players who won the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, he failed — for three seasons — to inspire them to glory in the Uefa Champions League.

His decision to sanction Bayern’s £18 million signing of midfielder Thiago Alcântara, whose agent is Pep’s brother Pere, was very controversial and was rightly criticised by German’s influential broadsheet newspaper, Suddeutsche Zeitung, as an ugly advertisement of “shameless financial sleaze.”

While some people, including football writers, in this country believe people like Pep is a demi-god, Marca, Spain’s biggest selling daily newspaper, had an interesting article on the coach on Thursday under the headline — “Why are some players criticising Guardiola?”

The article contains fascinating views of several players he has worked with.

Dante

“He doesn’t speak to you so as a player you don’t know where you stand. There are coaches who are world-class from a tactical point of view, but who aren’t good on a human level and this is the case with Guardiola.”

Cesc Fabregas

“With Guardiola I ended up not understanding the system.”

Zlatan Ibrahimovich

“I yelled ‘You have no balls!’ at him and probably worse things than that. You are crapping yourself because of Jose Mourinho. You can go to hell.”

Samuel Eto’o

“He didn’t have the courage to tell me things to my face. I had to remember that he wasn’t a great footballer. I told him I’m Samuel Eto’o and I’m the one who makes you win. (Guardiola) was lecturing me on how to attack when he played as a midfielder.”

Thomas Mueller

“Guardiola lives in his own world.”

Alexander Hleb

“I don’t think Guardiola was the best coach in the world; he trained the best team with the best players. The best coaches are Jose Mourinho, Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, from whom I learned more than from Guardiola.”

Luis Enrique, the current Barca coach, has enjoyed considerable success at the club, but it’s easy to forget that recently he failed to make the grade at Italian club AS Roma and was fired after being eliminated from the Europa league by a team called SK Bratislava and then failing to qualify for any European competition the following season.

I maintain that Pasuwa is special and that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

 

TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

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

Khamaldinhoooooooooooooooooo!

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Chat with me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter @Chakariboy, interact with me on Viber or read my material in The Southern Times. The authoritative ZBC weekly television football magazine programme, Game Plan, is back on air and we can interact every Monday evening.

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