High-flying warrior Tino Kadewere

Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor
ZIMBABWE international striker Tino Kadewere, who began a summer of silverware collection for the country’s footballers in Europe by helping Djurgardens IF win the Svenska Cup this month, continues to see his stock rise in Sweden after scoring for the second straight game on Thursday night.

The 22-year-old, who comes from a family with a rich football tradition in Harare’s Highfield suburb, has already been tipped by his former coach Moses Chunga to develop into one of the big stars of domestic football in the next few years.

Chunga, the first in-field Zimbabwean footballer to make the grade at a European club after Independence when he joined Belgian side E. Aalst where he later became captain and one of its finest footballers, believes there is something special about Kadewere.

‘’For me, he is the one that stands out among our players who are now knocking on the door to become regulars in the national team,’’ said Chunga.

‘’He has incredible technique and balance and he backs that with the natural talent that he has and all that he needs is to remain focused.

‘’I have been following him for some time now because I have interest in the young players and I can tell you that he could be the real deal because he has the complete package, although of course, he needs to keep working hard and improving his game.

‘’I am happy to see that he has now established himself as a regular at his club and with that he will start to get confidence and play the game in his natural way without any pressure and knowing that he is good enough to be playing at this stage.

‘’Hopefully, the people around him will be telling him that this is not the end, but the beginning of the journey and the tough work starts now and the good thing is that he is coming home soon and we will try and help him with some words of wisdom so that he doesn’t lose his way.’’

Kadewere has been included in Sunday Chidzambwa’s Warriors squad for the COSAFA Cup in South Africa later this month and says he has been getting a lot of love from his Swedish club’s fans who are celebrating their club’s success in the Svenska Cup.

‘’Thank you so much my beloved God for this wonderful moment, my first prof(essional) silverware, the fans were so amazing, so much love and we will keep going forward,’’ he said. And he has been flying, indeed, since that success story.

He scored the only goal for his club in the 1-0 win over Dalkurd FF in a league match in the Swedish top-flight league, the Allsvenskan, and followed that with another goal in their next match in the 2-0 victory over Orebro in another league match on Thursday night.

After first being given time to settle into the Swedish league without being rushed into action, Kadewere is now showing his true colours now that he has been thrust into the first team and has scored four goals in nine league appearances for Djurgardens.

His tally is now six goals in just 14 appearances for the club — in all competitions.

He scored one goal and provided the assist for the other in the 2-1 win over AK in the semi-final of the Svenska Cup which gave them the ticket into the final.

And his handlers, Prosport International, who are also trying to seal Knowledge Musona’s deal from KV Oostende to Belgian giants Standard Liege, have been showering Kadewere with praises.

‘’Well done to football client Tinotenda Kadewere who scored for Djurgaderns IF Fotboll in their 2-0 win against Örebro in the Allsvenskan yesterday,’’ the management team headed by Mike Makaab said on their official page.

Kadewere has been hailed for having a strong defensive feature to his game, even though he is a forward, which makes him a good team player while his through balls, key passes, dribbling, shots from distance and passing have been described as good.

He is said to possess an indirect set-piece threat, likes to tackle although there are questions over his discipline, where he usually commits too many fouls, leading to a red flag being raised in that area of his game.

Kadewere started the summer of silverware collection for Zimbabweans in European football which also saw midfielder Marvelous Nakamba also winning the Belgian league title.

Khama Billiat and Cuthbert Malajila have also won the league title in South Africa with Mamelodi Sundowns.

But while the sun is shining for Kadewere, Nakamba and Billiat, the same cannot be said of their national teammate, Tendai Ndoro, after his woes deepened yesterday when the South Gauteng High Court dismissed his club Ajax Cape Town’s application for the promotion/play-off matches to be stopped pending a determination of their case in the courts.

Ajax Cape Town are challenging their relegation from the South African Premiership after they were docked nine points by the SAFA arbitrator Advocate William Mokhari for using Ndoro when he was ineligible to play for them given he had featured for two other clubs in the same window.

The club were supposed to feature in the promotion/play-off matches to try and retain their place in the Premiership, but were sent straight into Division One.

Judge Raylene Keightley threw out Ajax Cape Town’s application for the matches to be stopped pending a determination of their case.

The judge has given the club until 22 May to furnish him with further papers for him to make a determination on their appeal that their relegation was wrong.

Ndoro, who turned 30 this week, was also banned for two games for his part in the saga.

You Might Also Like

Comments

Take our Survey

We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey