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BY the time the Germans touched seventh heaven, on a night that had a chilling apocalyptic feeling of Armageddon for the people of Brazil, even those in the winning corner had long lost the passion to celebrate but were now being consumed by a tsunami of sympathy.
For the beaten opponent, lying helpless in one corner, was no ordinary foe — this was Brazil, as the world had never seen them before.

A Brazil pummelled and humiliated in their backyard — their biggest defeat in the World Cup finals history, the first time they had lost in a World Cup semi-final since 1938 and the first nation to concede five goals, in the first half, at this stage of the World Cup.

Football has given Brazil its international identity, in Pele they gave the world its first biggest global star, in Mexico in 1970 their super team took this game to another level many feel has never been reached and, in the process, they became the globe’s favourite team.

But on Tuesday night, in just 90 minutes that will never be forgotten, football punished Brazil in a way that no one had ever imagined, ripping the soul of a proud nation apart, planting seeds of doubt into their minds about whether they will ever be great again and sending 200 million people into depression.

Some of us had questioned Brazil’s capacity to win the World Cup, on their home turf, against the background of inflated expectations from a nation that has carried a heavy burden for more than half a century since the failed bid, in a similar quest, in what became known as the Curse of the Maracazano in 1950.

On this very blog, three weeks ago, I argued why I believed Brazil would not win this World Cup.

But even those of us who cast doubt never imagined that their fate would be sealed in such humiliating fashion, an implosion of grand proportions without any precedence in world football at such a level, as their defensive frailties were crudely exposed by an efficient German machine.

The World Cup, though, isn’t all about host nations and only one host, France, has won the tournament in the past 36 years and the last hosts, South Africa, failed to even qualify beyond the group stages of the tourney.

It’s a grand festival of football and, in terms of quality of the game on the pitch and the goals that have been scored, refreshing tales of underdogs that punched above their weight, young stars who exploded on the big stage and turned on the show and fans who provided the sounds from the stands, this World Cup has certainly delivered.

The Argentina/Holland game might have been the worst of this World Cup but it’s a credit to this tournament that such matches were few and far between, that the lasting images will be the beautiful moments created by the likes of James Rodriguez, the strong challenge of teams like Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica and Switzerland and another huge statement, from the Americans, of the big strides they have taken in this game.

I have always considered myself to be a World Cup boy, one of those lucky guys born in the year when Pele and his magicians from Brazil thrived in the Mexican sunshine in 1970 and soared to heights that had never been touched, and might never be touched again, in a display of football purity that immortalised them as the greatest national team ever assembled.

The first World Cup, I actually followed while understanding exactly what was going on and with a national team to support, was the one in 1982, exactly 32 years ago, and I have to say that the Brazil World Cup has certainly been the best show — record goals scored, record crowd attendance figures, football embracing the virtues of teamwork rather than its fixation with individuals.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Mario Balotelli never lasted beyond the first round but it didn’t devalue this World Cup, the Spanish superstars went out of the first round but the party continued, Eden Hazard barely eased into second gear but the Belgians reached the quarter-finals and Lionel Messi hasn’t been unplayable but Argentina are in the final.

Whoever wins tomorrow night will be a worthy champion and it’s a measure of the pedigree of these two giants that they will be playing in their THIRD World Cup final, in the last EIGHT World Cup tournaments, including this one, the Germans will be playing in their FOURTH final in EIGHT, which means they have made the final in half of the last EIGHT World Cups, and the head-to-head, in the final, stands at Germany 1, Argentina 1.

Something has to give in tomorrow night.
THERE ARE LESSONS FOR OUR REPRESENTATIVES IN BRAZIL
In the crowd at the Maracana tomorrow night will be zifa president, Cuthbert Dube, his chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze, PSL chairman Twine Phiri, Sports Minister Andrew Langa and legislator Temba Mliswa, a former Warriors’ fitness trainer who now heads the parliamentary portfolio committee on sport.

They will be privileged witnesses to what it means for a national team to be successful, what success in this game can do to people of simple lives and ordinary lifestyles, what success in football can do for a country, the feel-good effect it can bring, the unity, how it makes people proud of their identity as a nation.

How it will make Argentina, in the event of success, forget about the monumental challenges they are facing as a nation in terms of relieving their huge debt, a national currency that continues to lose its value, week-long power blackouts and fears of a return to the widespread looting seen in Cordoba province only six months ago.

How it will make the people of Germany feel special, in the event of success, and help them forget they were once the outcasts of Europe during the World War and make them revel in their identity as one united German nation you wouldn’t believe that, for a good 28 years after 1961, they were two nations divided by the Berlin Wall.

My prayers are that Dube, when he sees that outpouring of patriotism from thousands of Argentina and German fans in the Maracana tomorrow night, will begin to appreciate the magnitude of the suffering that the local fans have endured, as the Warriors stalled under his watch, they are now being knocked out in the preliminary rounds of the Nations Cup qualifiers by Tanzania.

My prayers are that the zifa boss, when he sees all those happy fans, when one of the team scores at the Maracana, will begin to appreciate that, in this game, there are more important things than securing an office in Alex Park, and saying that represents a legacy, and completing the zifa Village.

Fifa can help us have the best facilities in the world, from stadiums to the training grounds, the best FA Village and the best offices that any FA can dream of but, as long as our national team continues to be in decline, being punched into submission by the likes of Tanzania, all that will mean nothing and will represent a misplaced investment of gigantic proportions.

My prayers are that Dube, when he sees the beauty of that golden moment when a nation is united in celebrating a goal, when time appears to stand still, it will freeze in his memory and he will begin to appreciate why there has been all this noise, in the wake of the Warriors’ failure to qualify for three Nations Cup finals under his watch, because football is much more than board meetings and statements.

My prayers are that Dube meets Ronaldo at the Maracana tomorrow night, and if that happens the zifa president should reflect how it is possible that this Brazilian legend, whose name is in their match-fixing report with one of their so-called witnesses claiming he was shown a video of this superstar being paid money by match-fixers to feign injury ahead of the ’98 World Cup final, can be co-opted into the organising committee of this World Cup.

And, if Dube is able to reflect on that, he should then have the heart to appreciate that Norman Mapeza, whom his leadership has tried to destroy for something based on those witness reports, probably deserves his chance to rebuild his career the way Methembe Ndlovu is doing.

Given that Dube also watched the semi-finals, maybe he also got to appreciate the sadness that can envelope an entire nation, in the event of failure in football, with all the depression that spread across Brazil, after their humbling at the hands of the Germans, inducing a shock wave that must have registered on the Richter Scale.

Hopefully, he saw all those Brazilian newspapers that published blank front pages, in protest, over their team’s humiliation and he read all those headlines, including the one that said ‘GO TO HELL BIG PHIL’ as a tormented nation struggled to get to grips with the shame that came with that embarrassment.

Hopefully, Dube also read the angry reaction from Brazilian football legend, Romario, the hero of the team’s successful World Cup quest in 1994, who is now a parliamentarian, saying in a letter that Brazilian Football Confederation president Jose Maria Marin and his deputy, Marco Polo del Nero, who will take over as the leader of the country’s football next year “should be in prison.”

“OUR FOOTBALL HAS BEEN DETERIORATING FOR YEARS. IT IS BEING DRAGGED DOWN BY LEADERS WHO DIDN’T EVEN HAVE THE TALENT TO JUGGLE THE BALL,” Romario wrote in his letter.
“THEY STAY IN THEIR LUXURY BOX SEATS, ENJOYING THE MILLIONS THAT GO INTO THEIR ACCOUNTS.”
THE BIG AFRICAN WORLD CUP FALLOUT

Our Sports Minister, Andrew Langa, is also watching the World Cup final and, hopefully, he has been following how other African governments in Nigeria, Cameroon and Ghana have been reacting after their national teams came short in Brazil.

Nigerian Football Federation president, Alhaji Aminu Maigari, was arrested in Abuja on his return from Brazil where the Super Eagles staged a protest over bonuses which, some believe, affected their performance in the second round tie against France.

Now, if that can happen to an FA president whose country was one of the best two performing African nations at the World Cup in Brazil, whose national team won the Nations Cup only last year after 19 years of searching for this crown, what would the Nigerians do to their football leaders if they failed to take the team to the Nations Cup or it lost in the preliminary round of the qualifiers?

When the Nigerians feel those they put into public office are not delivering, the entire national machinery reacts and we saw last week the High Court in that country dissolving the NFF leadership led by Maigari and Fifa reacted this week by suspending Nigeria from international football.

When the Super Eagles threatened not to fulfil their World Cup match against France, in a bonus row, it threatened to drag the tournament into turmoil and it was the Nigerian government, using public funds, who intervened and made the necessary payments.

Now, if the Government is using public funds for a national project, as was the case with the Super Eagles adventure in Brazil, why then should that Government not have powers to hold those in football leadership, whom it feels might have come short in executing their public mandate, to account?

Why should a Ghanaian government that charters a plane, using public funds, and airlifts US$3 million of public money to quell a rebellion in the Black Stars camp in Brazil, not have the authority to bring its football leadership to account, in the event it feels they came short, simply because Fifa will descend heavily on them by suspending the country from international football?

But, refreshingly, the African governments are getting bolder and this is what Cameroon President Paul Biya said:
“I WILL AT ALL COST REFORM THE FOOTBALL FEDERATION, AND I DON’T CARE WHAT FIFA SAYS. IT IS MY COUNTRY AND I OWE IT TO THE MILLIONS WHO ARE LOVERS OF THE GAME,” President Biya said in a statement released by Cameroon national radio.

This anger is coming out of African countries that qualified for the World Cup in Brazil, a qualifying process where we recorded our worst campaign in 34 years, failed to win any of our games, lost twice at home, finished bottom of the group and could not beat Mozambique in 180 minutes. We didn’t only end there as we went on and crashed at the first hurdle of the preliminary round of the qualifiers for the 2015 Nations Cup.

Our football leaders in Brazil return home next week but the reality of our shortcomings will not go away because, next weekend, the first leg of the second round of the preliminary phase of the qualifiers for the 2015 Nations Cup will be played, bringing another reminder of our failings because our Warriors will be inactive.

Then, between September 5 and November 19 this year, a total of 82 matches will be played across Africa in the battle for a place in Morocco next year and we will miss that festival of football.

While those who made it to the World Cup in Brazil have been critical in their analysis of failure, taking their FA leaders to account with some, like the Nigerians even dissolving the leadership, despite all the brickbats that will come from Fifa, our Sports Minister’s reaction, when asked by The Sunday Mail if he would kick out zifa, summed everything about who we are.

“What will such a move achieve? Why should we throw away the baby together with the bath water? We all know how fifa reacts when a government interferes with the running of football and we will not be pressured into making a decision that will be detrimental to Zimbabwean football,” he said.

That’s the difference between us and those in West Africa Cde Minister, because our counterparts are prepared to sacrifice, even if it means a ban from Fifa, to get things right.

Why should our role be limited to being spectators, just being there, watching others battle it out in the names of their countries, supporting those countries, behaving as if we are only good enough to be adopted fans? The Nigerians are bold, they will sort out their issues and, soon, their suspension will be lifted and they will be at the next Nations Cup, probably they will win it again, and they are likely to be at the next World Cup while, because we are so afraid of fifa sanctions, we just watch from a distance.

LAST WORDS FROM MADINDA NDLOVU
“The current state of our soccer is bad just because someone at the top is not doing enough. Yes, people might blame it on the economy but there are other crucial things like grooming players and giving them respect that are being ignored.

“Nowadays everything is about squabbles. As people who have a vision for sport, it is high time we sit down and map a way forward like building academies and helping players financially because you cannot expect a player to come to training on an empty stomach.

“After Independence we played for pride and it was such an honour to put on that shirt but now it is quite difficult putting on the shirt when you know someone out there is feasting on what you have sweated for. It is not good.” — Madinda was speaking to the Zimbabwe Mail.

Well said Khatazile, with this spirit one fine day the stories in our newspapers will be about the Warriors going to the World Cup and not zifa leaders and their counterparts.

To God Be The Glory!
Don’t Cry For Me Argentina!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Messiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!
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