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group, Bad Company, released a gem of a hit that turned into one of the greatest songs of all-time.
The enduring tale of Johnny, who was a schoolboy when he heard his first Beatles’ song, Love Me Do, I think it was, and from there it didn’t take him long.
Well, he got himself a guitar that he used to play every night and, in his rock-and-roll outfit, everything was all right.
Johnny told his Mama, ‘Hey, Mama, I’m going away, I’m gonna hit the big time, gonna be a big star some day.’
Mama came to the door, with a tear drop in her eye and Johnny said, ‘Don’t cry, Mama, just smile and wave goodbye.”
Well, Johnny made a record, it went straight up to number one.
And suddenly everyone loved to hear him sing his song, watching the world go by, surprisingly it goes so fast and Johnny looked around him and said: “Well, I made the big-time at last.”
But Johnny died one night and he died in his bed, a bottle of whiskey and sleeping tablets by his head and they say Johnny’s life passed him by like a warm summer day and, if you listen to the wind, you can still hear him play:
“Don’t you know that you are a Shooting Star,
Don’t you know?
Don’t you know that you are a Shooting Star,
And all the world will love you just as long,
As long as you are.”
I liked Johnny because he was a brave and confident lad, who believed that he had the talent to take on the world in his chosen field, and – for a brief period in his life – realised his dream.
But I also hated Johnny because he blew it up, just when he was set for phenomenal success, as he plunged into drugs and alcohol and, in the process, buried everything that he had worked hard for.
On Sunday evening, with the sun having long disappeared into the horizon, and life having moved out of a National Sports Stadium that now resembled a gigantic shell, I began the drive back to the office as one of the last guys to leave the parking lot of the giant stadium.
The events that had unfolded inside the stadium, between 3pm and 5pm earlier that day, were still dominating our conversation in the car, and my colleagues were still adamant that the Warriors had played badly.
But all of them didn’t care much simply, as they said, what mattered was that we had won and, as far as they were concerned, we had done it in a stadium whose hostility towards our campaign was well documented.
I didn’t talk that much, preferring to listen to the arguments.
And my idle mind found a song, as the debate intensified, and I found myself being treated to a silent rendition of Shooting Star, the Bad Company classic, Johnny, the schoolboy who was inspired by the Beatles to become a star, and the more I listened to this song, the more I thought about the Warriors.
Was this Warriors’ Class of 2011 a group of Shooting Stars?
Was Ovidy Karuru, who has been man-of-the-match in the last two Nations Cup qualifiers a Shooting Star?
Or was Khama Billiat, who had scored his first Warriors’ goal in a Nations Cup qualifier a Shooting Star?
Was Tafadzwa Rusike, whose game appears to have lost some of the life that made all of us believe in him when he was still at CAPS United, a Shooting Star?
Or was Gilbert Mapemba, who impressed all and sundry against Mali but was a lifeless figure against Liberia, a Shooting Star?
Was Knowledge Musona, who had scored three goals for the Warriors in this campaign but had missed two big games, included the one we lost in Mali where his absence was badly felt, because of injury that continues to stalk him, a Shooting Star?
Was Willard Katsande, the man who had risen from the bench against Mali to provide the killer pass that resulted in Karuru being fouled, celebrated a dominant performance against Zambia with the opening goal only to struggle to impose himself against Liberia, a Shooting Star?
Or was Onismor Bhasera, the roving leftback who has been squeezed out of our Nations Cup campaign, because of the cruelty of the injury that continues to stalk him, a Shooting Star?
Was Edward Sadomba, a man who has struggled to take his rich club form, where he dishes goal regularly that he has become an iconic figure at Sudanese giants Al-Hilal, into the colours of the Warriors, a Shooting Star when it comes to national assignments?
Or was Norman Mapeza, the coach who had battled hard to overcome the turbulence that rocked his camp at the beginning and push his boys within reach of a place at the 2012 Nations Cup finals, a Shooting Star that could soon fade off the skyline if our campaign fails?
Was this whole story about us and the 2012 Nations Cup – from the players, the technical staff, the fans, the journalists right to the Zifa officials – nothing but just a Shooting Star that will next month run its course, on an Atlantic Ocean island, and fade away from the skyline?
I don’t know why, but it all kept coming back into my mind and the more that I tried to think about something else, the more the questions flooded my little brain.

We Don’t Want To Be Johnny Boy
Johnny had a dream to become a rock star and he pursued it, using the inspiration from a Beatles song that he loved, and he worked hard until his song went to number one.
But Johnny failed to reconcile life in the artificial world, which money and success created for him, and the responsibility that his new status demanded from him as a person.
We have a dream to qualify for the 2012 Nations Cup finals and the inspiration comes from those who have made it possible before, people like Peter Ndlovu, the King who inspired his country to the finals in Tunisia and Egypt in 2004 and 2006.
People like Sunday Chidzambwa, the legendary coach who ended our lengthy wait for a dance at the Nations Cup showcase by finally leading us to the Promised Land at the Tunisia finals in 2004.
People like Charles Mhlauri, with a little helping hand from Rahman Gumbo and Moses Chunga, who consolidated our place at the top table where the heavyweights of African football dine by helping us to qualify for the 2006 Nations Cup finals in Egypt.
But, just like Johnny, we didn’t handle our success well when it finally happened.
We became narrow-minded people who decided to concentrate on why Sunday picked Wilfred Mugeyi, why he didn’t rise from his bench as Cameroon scored five in that group game in S’fax, and we found ourselves even foolishly discussing stupid rumours, and in the process giving them substance, claiming that some players had paid their way into the team.
Just like Johnny, we were letting the limelight take away our power of reasoning.
So the new Zifa executive, which had taken office after qualification had been secured, foolishly decided to bring in a technical director, to head the Warriors’ coaching department, rather than building on what Sunday had done in Tunisia.
The agenda was to frustrate him and, as expected, he left.
Just like Johnny, an opportunity for us to grow as a serious national team, had been lost and the game would replay itself again with Mhlauri after the failed campaign for the 2008 Nations Cup finals, with Mhofu when he made his comeback show and almost played out with Mapeza when he returned from Liberia with a point.
Some can even go back and say we did the same with Reinhard Fabisch back in the days of the Dream Team.
You get this sinking feeling that not everyone seems happy that the Warriors are doing well, as of now, and there are many people whose evil agendas, against certain players, certain coaches, certain officials or certain journalists are being hampered by the national team’s success stories.
You get this terrible feeling that we are not pulling in the same direction and the Warriors’ success, so far, in this Nations Cup campaign, has become an inconvenient sideshow that is delaying the implementation of evil agendas by some individuals loaded with hate.
You get this horrible feeling that every time the Warriors win, they are merely buying themselves more time, more space to breathe, delaying the machete man waiting on the wings for that slip, when this story ends in tragedy just like Johnny, to destroy this team for this and that reason.
You get this depressing feeling that when we rose on Sunday, to salute a good opening goal created by the genius of Karuru down the flanks and finished with aplomb by Katsande, we all didn’t mean it because some were just doing a show for the public when, inside, they could feel the pain that the goal had delayed their evil machinations.
Just 10 months ago, nine of the Zifa board members voted against Mapeza becoming the head coach and, instead, preferred Madinda Ndlovu to do that job leading to Nomara’s decision to quit and the circus that followed our appearance at the CHAN finals.
At least Benedict Moyo has been man enough, and professional enough, to concede that all that madness was unnecessary and the two points we dropped in the game against Cape Verde, at the height of the turmoil, could come back to haunt us badly.
We all make horrible mistakes, just like Johnny, but we need to find a way of managing those mistakes so that we are stronger in the future.
Unfortunately, not everyone who wasn’t there for Norman, at a time when we could have taken all three points against Cape Verde, is seeing it the same way as Benedict Moyo and, in those rigid attitudes and imaginary battle trenches, they are still plotting how to turn all this into a Shooting Star.
They are not thinking about the possibility of success in Cape Verde but the possibility of failure and the opportunity it presents to turn all this into a Shooting Star.

A Conversation With Ian Gorowa
After Sunday’s game against Liberia, I spoke at length with Ian Gorowa who almost took Mamelodi Sundowns to league championship honours last season, after being asked to take over during a crisis, but fell two points shy.
He is well respected in South Africa today and SuperSport are now using him for analysing football in that country.
Gorowa told me that it would be tragic for the current generation of Warriors, which he described as a class act that has the potential of becoming a powerful team on the continent, to miss a grand opportunity to showcase their talents at the next Nations Cup finals.
He revealed that it has been an age since he had last been impressed by the talents of a group of Warriors, the way he felt on Sunday, and believes these players could benefit immensely from playing at the next Nations Cup finals as part of their preparations for an assault on getting a place at the 2014 World Cup finals.
Gorowa said Karuru was simply magical and deserves a better team and stage than the French side he was playing for right now.
He said when he saw him produce a man-of-the-match show against Mali, he felt – just like a Shooting Star – it was a flash in the pan but on Sunday, as the magician ran rings around the Liberians, he was convinced Ovidy was the genuine article.
In short, Gorowa said there was a very solid base for Zimbabwe to build a competitive team that could finally deliver a World Cup appearance for the nation at the 2014 showcase in Brazil.
Gorowa has been in this game for too long to know the difference between a genuine and competitive team, which can last the distance, and a mythical one which, like a Shooting Star, only shines brightest for a short period before disappearing from the skyline.
The Warriors he saw against Mali and the Warriors he saw against Liberia were not Shooting Stars but were the genuine article, driven by a young generation hungry for success, and Gorowa said Zimbabwe might have stumbled on a diamond field, with this team, which could bring incredible dividends for the national game.
When Knowledge Musona arrived at Kaizer Chiefs two years ago, the joke in Johannesburg was that the Amakhosi were getting bargain players from Zimbabwe where they were paying for just one and getting two for free.
To those critics, Musona was a Shooting Star, and they were so sure his light would fade very quickly.
Of course, they were wrong, and last season the boy from Norton gave Chiefs its biggest transfer payment in the club’s history when he joined Hoffeiheim in the German Bundesliga.
But how many other players, probably better than Musona, are waiting for that big break in our country?
How many of those players will get that break? How many of them will be destroyed by the brutality of a football system that is being choked by the politics of the game that is likely to turn them into Shooting Stars rather than the genuine articles?
On that Sunday, Gorowa was already thinking about the 2014 World Cup finals and that speaks volumes about how visionary he is as a person.
Others, who want us to remain as nothing but a Shooting Star, were not only celebrating Mali’s 3-0 win the previous day but already laying the groundwork of how they will put their agendas into motion once we fail to make it in Cape Verde.

Yes, We Can Make It
All week I have refused to be pulled onto the bandwagon of those who are saying this is Mission Impossible, who are saying there is no way Mali can be held in Liberia (conveniently forgetting that in Bamako the score was 2-1 amid questionable refereeing and all the harassment that went on). We have fought hard to bounce back and, for the first time in the qualifiers, we are second on the table and only a point behind.
We can’t give up now, not at this stage.
We need to win in Cape Verde and, even if Mali wins in Liberia, we can say we gave it our best shot, fought for the fans until the final day and, in the event that we didn’t make it, we were full value for our professionalism.
Have we suddenly forgotten that Gabon had nothing to fight for, but pride, when they beat Sierra Leone 2-0 to open the window for us into Tunisia when the same Malians, of all people, had seemingly shut it on goal difference?
We have the momentum and let’s keep going.
Last week on SuperSport Africa they were mocking us, as they usually do, saying we were doomed and Bafana Bafana were about to confirm their place in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
But you saw how things changed dramatically because we refused to be buried by their perceptions and, as long as we remain focused, we can do it because something tells me Liberia, with nothing to play for, will be even more dangerous.
It can only be over after 90 minutes in Praia and in Monrovia.
Until then, nothing is guaranteed. Those who are comfortable with being Shooting Stars, who want to be like Johnny, are the ones who will be buried before they have even died.
If we give up now, I think we will get a place in the Guinness Book of Records for being the first country to do so when so many possibilities were available for glory.

Boring Show? It’s All Nonsense
For a team that went into a pressure-filled home game knowing that not even a draw would be enough to keep them alive, because of what had happened in Mali the previous night, you have to give the Warriors their credit for the way they focused on what was important.
This was certainly not a day for artistry but one for a result and those who want to concentrate on that we were not impressive should be reminded that what they are calling our worst performance gave us our biggest win in a Nations Cup or World Cup qualifier in eight years – whether at home or away.
Not since beating Mauritania 3-0 at the giant stadium on October 12 2003, in a World Cup qualifier, had we won by such a big margin either in a Nations Cup or World Cup qualifier.
To put it into context, Sunday’s victory was our biggest win, in a World Cup/Nations Cup tie in 31 matches dating back to 2003.
Who needs style for a result like that?
Maybe a Shooting Star?

Joke Of The Week
In a Grade 3 class mwana wahwindi (tout) was asked to translate the following English phrases to Shona. This is what the child had to say.
Passengers………………………Vabereki
Crowd……………………………..Shura
To turn…………………………….Kutyora
Opportunity………………………Gepu
To forget………………………..Kudhibha
Drive on………………………..Bhora mberi
Let’s go ……………………… Bhutsu
Pay-up ……………………….. Ndioneiwo
Come on United!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chicharitooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
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