Zimpapers Logo

LAST week, I asked the legendary Charles “CNN” Mabika to name the best XI local players to grace the domestic Premiership, since its formation 25 years ago, banking on his status as the most authoritative source to provide such an All-Star cast of footballers.

And, when he delivered his list, he picked playmaking genius Ronald “Gidiza” Sibanda as the best of the locals who have graced our football fields in the past quarter-of-a-century.

His All-Star XI, dubbed Charlie’s Angels, had Lloyd Chitembwe as the second best player during the period, Lloyd Mutasa in third place, Benjamin Nkonjera in fourth, Clemence Matawu in fifth, Stewart Murisa in sixth, Alois Bunjira in seventh, Memory Mucherahow in eighth, Tapuwa Kapini in ninth, Mercedes Sibanda in tenth and Tauya Murewa in eleventh place.

A fair compilation, of course it looks like, but as is always the case when it comes to such exercises, there will always be a touch of controversy, but to his eternal credit Charlie acknowledged this was one of the toughest assignments he has undertaken in his lengthy career.

For when it comes to such fine players, there is always a thin line that divides them, and I should know that because when I compiled the All-Star XI of the best foreigners to grace our Premiership during the same period and settled for Malawian midfield magician Joseph Kamwendo as the finest of them all, it sparked a lot of both debate and controversy.

Spencer Manguwa, the leader of our social football club Mafero Mafero, and his second vice-president, Gladman “Dallas” Sekawawana, felt Zambian forward Charles “Chief” Chilufya, remains the best of the foreign players to star in the domestic Premiership in the past 25 years.

Talk to Alois Bunjira and he will always tell you, with a straight face loaded with both passion and statistics, that it’s a miscarriage of justice for the guys at Kick-Off not to name him among the best 20 foreigners to grace Super Diski in the past 20 years in their recent poll.

Gidiza was brilliant, absolutely brilliant, a football gift from the heavens born to tear apart defences with one magical pass that would create an avenue of opportunities for his forwards where defenders believed they had erected a barrier, a ball-playing genius who was probably ahead of his time.

It’s not a coincidence that, after all these years, we are still looking for the next Gidiza, clinging on straws in the faint hope that someone as good as him has come along, whenever a teenager with some promise explodes on the scene, only for us to be tormented — when reality hits us hard — that he was just a poor clone of the original Ronnie.

It’s a shame, and maybe that should be said loud and clear for the benefit of future generations that, like Paul “Gazza” Gascoigne before him, the football gods who gave Gidiza his incredible talent didn’t also include a small package of the discipline — some will say the commitment and focus — which his natural gifts were loudly crying out for him to make that transformation from a very good player into a great star.

His critics have repeatedly said that, like Gazza — whose best friend and long-time drinking partner Jimmy Gardner was aptly nicknamed “Five Bellies” — Gidiza had a disruptive weakness for the pleasures of the little bottle that carries contents brewed with barley, malt and water, otherwise known as beer.

At least, Five Bellies lives to this day to tell his rough story.

The other member of Gazza’s infamous three-man drinking club, David Cheek, wasn’t so lucky and — at the young age of 43 — he died in August ’98 after a long night in which he had been drinking with the England star and an inquest into his death said he was killed by “acute alcoholism intoxication.”

But, others will say, hold on guys, before you turn yourselves into unfair judges, there is a special reason — which we might probably never know — why beer, whose consumption dates back to around 9 500 before our Lord Jesus Christ was born, is the oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic drink, in the world today.

A drink which, in today’s world, has more people drinking it than Coca-Cola and remains the third most popular drink on the globe with only water and tea consumed in more quantities.

But, what we can’t dispute is that beer has its own negative effects, like turning those Leicester City fans into maniacs in Madrid on Wednesday night, where they fought running battles with the police, while repeatedly shouting “You Spanish bastards, Gibraltar is ours”, bringing politics to spoil this game’s beauty.

GIDIZA, HIMSELF, SAYS HIS BEST WAS A GUY WE CALLED MAKANAKY

In October 2012, Gidiza was asked by a local newspaper to name the best side he played for and said it will always be Amazulu, because of the professional set-up created by businessman Delma Lupepe, who invested his fortune to turn Usuthu into Premiership champions in 2003.

Gidiza picked Barbourfields as the stadium of his dreams and said Sunday “Mhofu” Chidzambwa and Charles Mhlauri as the best coaches he worked under, describing them as “great tacticians who allowed me to play my normal game.’’

Given his talent, it’s not a surprise, he also picked Jay Jay Okocha, the Nigerian superstar so good they named him twice, as his best African player, saying anyone who doesn’t know this midfield genius doesn’t know anything about football and reflecting on how “he made us look like fools on the pitch when we met Nigeria.’’

Of course, Gidiza, Charles Mabika also always remembers that day, for all the wrong reasons though, but let’s leave it there guys. What caught my attention from that interview, though, was that when he was asked the Zimbabwean footballer he considered the best ever, Gidiza didn’t mention Peter Ndlovu, a popular choice among millions of fans in this country, or George Shaya or Moses Chunga.

Instead, he settled for Benjamin “Makanaky” Nkonjera.

“The late Benjamin Nkonjera was a complete player. He was a midfield genius who easily adjusted to any situation, regardless of the stage. The country will struggle to fill the void he left,” said Gidiza.

Of course, we now know that in the Dream Team, Nkonjera was the first player Reinhard Fabisch used to put down on his team line-up, ahead of Peter, ahead of Bruce Grobbelaar, ahead of everyone, because the German coach, according to the captain of that team Ephraim Chawanda, believed Benjie was the most valuable member of his team.

At a Harare hotel where we usually retreat with my friends, every Friday night, to wave goodbye to the working week and welcome the arrival of the weekend, football usually is always the dominant subject debated against a background of some moving music from a resident band that specialises in slow jamming cover versions. And, last Friday, Nkonjera’s brilliance featured prominently.

When the arguments were over, there was a universal appreciation that this tiger of a midfielder, whose little frame hid an explosive fighting spirit that turned him into a terrier on the pitch, with his genius shining brightly on the big occasions when he was playing for his country, was simply out of this world.

Like Gidiza, there were a number of people who were ready, after the arguments had died down, to say Nkonjera was the best of the very best and, while their belief might have had its flaws, they were sticking by it.

Michael Madoda, the other half of the Sportsline show with his friend and business partner Barry Manandi, and is unapologetic about his love for both Highlanders and Liverpool while, refreshingly, maintaining a very professional approach to his journalism, even has a Warriors’ jersey with the name Nkonjera, and that iconic number FOUR, inscribed at the back to try and ensure the memory of this genius should never die.

Peter Ndlovu, himself, has a son he named Benjamin, in honour of his friend and former teammate, whose talent he acknowledges, just the way I also named my boy Kalusha after being convinced the former Zambian captain was a thoroughbred ahead of his time.

So, against that background, Charles Mabika probably hits the bull’s eye, when it comes to his All-Star XI because he places Nkonjera on number four while Gidiza, whom he places at number one, says Makanaky is the number one.

BUT, WHAT ABOUT AJIRA, SURELY, THEY DON’T MAKE THEM THIS LETHAL ANYMORE?

If there is any reservations I have, with my Game Plan colleague Charles Mabika about the players he selected, then it has to be his decision to leave out Agent “Ajira” Sawu, the ultimate sniper who also graced the domestic Premiership during that period, from his Best XI players.

For, in my little book, Ajira would probably be full value for a place as the number one player. This is a footballer whose 16 goals in ’93 — the first season of the Premiership — duly delivered him a deserved Soccer Star of the Year gong before his talent took him to Europe only to return, exactly 10 years later, and explode with 20 goals for Dynamos and — even at that ripe age of 32 — still get a contract to play in South Africa.

For Ajira to be the star of the show, who deservedly earned the best player of the year award in ’93, while playing for a poor Saints team beginning its long and painful nose-dive into mediocrity where they have been having a flirtation with extinction, was testament of his sheer class.

For him to score 16 goals for an average Saints team that finished seventh in the championship race in ‘93, lost nine and drew 10 of their matches and, crucially, only scored 35 goals — the lowest tally among the top 10 teams that year and fewer goals than those scored by Ziscosteel — who finished bottom and were relegated that year, should paint a vivid image of Ajira’s star status.

For goodness sake, Ajira scored more league goals that season for Saints than all his teammates put together.

And his star status was paraded, in full, when this gem of a forward — pity they don’t make them this lethal anymore — was the spearhead of the Dream Team, always delivering for his nation, be it in the cauldron of the Cairo International Stadium, before more than 100 000 screaming Egyptian fans as was the case in that World Cup qualifier

Back in ’93, for me, there was only one African striker more prolific than Agent Sawu, the immortal Rashid Yekini — the all-time highest goal-scorer for the Super Eagles — who won the ’93 CAF Player of the Year in a landmark season that would see him also win the Golden Boot in Portugal after scoring 21 goals for Vitoria de Setubal.

But, by then, Yekini was 30-years-old, a battle-hardened professional who also played in arguably the best Super Eagles team of All-Time that would not only be crowned African champions the following year, but also came within minutes of knocking out eventual finalists Italy in a World Cup second round match in the United States.

In contrast, Ajira was just a raw 21-year-old, playing for a team that had never qualified for the Nations Cup finals, but between January 10, ’93 and February 28, ’93, he scored for his country in successive World Cup qualifiers against Angola (1-1 draw in Luanda), Angola (2-1 win for the Warriors in Harare) and at the Cairo International Stadium, before more than 100 000 screaming Egyptians (a 1-2 loss for the Warriors later nullified by FIFA because of crowd trouble).

I’m not sure there’s an African player who has scored in three successive World Cup qualifiers before or after.

In the next Warriors’ World Cup qualifier at home, Ajira was on target again in the 1-0 win over Cameroon on July 4, ’93, heading the ball home with just minutes left on the clock and like Gazza in that World Cup semi-final for England and Germany bursting into a flood of tears.

And, when Guinea came into town on September 26, ’93, Ajira — once again — scored the only goal of the match to underline his star quality with his goals, single-handedly keeping the Warriors in the hunt for that ticket to the ’94 World Cup finals in an adventure that would, sadly, be ended with that 1-3 defeat in Cameroon in the final game.

Show me another striker, in the world, who has ever scored in his country’s four successive World Cup qualifiers and I will send you some Easter eggs.

Of course, I appreciate this isn’t an argument about what players did in the colours of the Warriors, but on the domestic Premiership, but for Ajira to win the Soccer Star of the Year in ’93, based on his performances for Saints on the domestic scene — in a year in which his quality also shone for his country and was probably one of the two best strikers on the continent — makes him a good case for a place among the Best XI if not the number one.

I might be wrong, but that’s my story and I will stick with it.

TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

Come on United!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rooneyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Text Feedback — 07192545199 (I migrated to OneFusion)

WhatsApp Messenger — 07192545199

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 and producer Tich “Chief” Mushangwe every Monday evening.

The column has been brought forward due to the Easter Holidays.