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Paul Mundandi Sports Reporter

TONDERAI Ndiraya’s wife, Lilyosa, believes her husband owes his success to Dynamos, humility and the grace of God. Ndiraya guided Ngezi Platinum to the Chibuku Super Cup success last Saturday with a stunning 3-1 win over FC Platinum.“I salute Dynamos, they gave him the foundation, he was their player and coach. We love Dynamos and I still believe that is why their fans travelled to Ngezi to support my husband,” said Lilyosa.

“I believe we are still emotionally attached to the team.

“We have achieved all we have because of Dynamos and to be honest I get disturbed when we hear of issues affecting the club because we have an attachment with the biggest team in Zimbabwe.

“People left their families, sang all the way supporting him and I was touched to see (Dynamos fan) Admire (Kandeya) hugging my husband after the victory.

“Thank you Zimbabwe for supporting us, we are grateful for the love you have shown to Tonde and your encouragement.

“Your love is genuine and we will never thank you enough for what you have done to us. We owe our success to God and everyone who loves football and sympathies with us.”

Lilyosa fell in love with Ndiraya in 1999 after the player was a frequent visitor to their house at the invitation of Godmas Muchunga who was playing with Ndiraya in the financial league.

She had no clue of how football was played back then.

“At one point I could delay Tonde to training sessions and I slowly began falling in love with the sport,” she said.

“At one point Chunga (Moses) jokingly said ‘Amainini muchakanganisa Ndiraya bhora uyu.’”

They got married in 2002.

She says she was pained when Dynamos terminated her husband’s contract in January this year.

“We got emotionally affected, accepted what was before us and prayed. I had to support Tonde and the good thing is he remained humble. We did not retaliate and I believe it was one reason the Dynamos family loves us and supports us.

“If he loses a match it affects us as a family but it does not affect the way we live with other people.

“I am proud to be a coach’s wife and it feels great. Football means everything to me now.”

Ndiraya’s family is now in the limelight in Ngezi, where they stay, following their achievement in the Chibuku Super Cup.

The coach is also a good cook and he is usually in the kitchen preparing dinner when his friends visit him.

“If Desmond (Maringwa) and his family come here he enjoys preparing dinner and we love his food,” she said.

“If he prepares breakfast you will not eat the whole day but he will leave the fridge half empty because he cooks almost everything

“He loves braai and most of the time he takes us out. When he gets angry it can be something else but he is not violent.”

They have three sons Frank (13) Miguel (10) and Malakay.

Frank plays rugby at Prince Edward while Miguel is following his father’s footsteps as he is playing football at the school as a rightback.

Ndiraya signed a three-year contract with Ngezi Platinum on the 16th of June.