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Sharuko On Saturday

IT was on the shores of the Atlantic, where he made his debut, on the big stage, which comes with playing either in an AFCON, or World Cup, qualifier.

Just three months earlier, he had waved goodbye to his teenage adventure.

And, if he needed any reminder of the massive responsibility, which he now carried on his shoulders, this national assignment told him just about everything.

Norman Mapeza was the coach, who threw this 20-year-old international football rookie, into the deep end, by ordering him to lead the line, in his debut Nations Cup qualifier.

It’s a challenge Knowledge Musona accepted, without any hesitation, and just 30 minutes, into his first AFCON match, he was celebrating his first goal, at this level of football.

That was on September 5, 2010.

And, the National Complex in Paynesville, a suburb in the eastern part of Monrovia, fittingly provided the setting, on that afternoon, when Musona came of age.

Some things are just meant to be, that’s the brutal reality about life.

For, how do we explain that fate would choose Paynesville, the suburb which George Weah used to call home, as the place where the next raw diamond, in Zimbabwean football, would be unveiled to the world?

How do we explain that the reliable goal-scorer, which the Warriors had been looking for to fill the big shoes left by the great Peter Ndlovu, would be introduced to the world, in Liberia?

The very country which, in Africa, is synonymous with greatness, when it comes to goal-scoring, with King George being the ultimate symbol of perfection, in this noble art.

He remains the only African player to win the Ballon d’Or and, today, King George finds himself occupying the highest office, in Liberia, after rising to become his country’s President.

In the King’s backyard, the fortress from where Weah came very close to dragging Liberia to a dream World Cup appearance, Musona announced his arrival on the big stage.

Seven years later, again under Mapeza, Musona transformed himself into a one-man demolition machine, by destroying King George’s team, in another AFCON qualifier, in Harare.

On June 11, 2017, the Smiling Assassin became the first Warriors skipper to score a hat-trick, in either a World Cup or AFCON qualifier, in a 3-0 win over Liberia.

Mapeza had just been roped in, on an ad-hoc basis, just as is the case today, to take charge of the team, following the departure of Callisto Pasuwa, after the 2017 Nations Cup finals.

That result meant the Liberians, in two AFCON qualifiers against the Warriors in Harare, over a period of six years, had conceded six goals, and scored none.

In both matches, the Warriors were under Mapeza’s guidance, with the first match, in Harare on September 4, in the 2012 AFCON qualifiers, ending in another 0-3 defeat for Liberia.

Willard Katsande, Ovidy Karuru and Khama Billiat were on target.

But, despite that flying start to the 2019 AFCON campaign, with that 3-0 thrashing of Liberia, it proved the only game, which Mapeza would take charge of, in those qualifiers.

Today, 11 years after that Liberian mission, Musona finds himself back on the shores of the Atlantic, on the same West African tip of the continent, where he made his debut.

And, then, just like now, he is on national duty, under the guidance of Mapeza.

The opponents they are bracing to face this evening also have a nickname, which has an identical ringing tone, to the ones they took on, in September 2010.

Whereas they came up against the Lone Stars, 11 years ago, they will now take on the Black Stars, in this 2022 World Cup showdown, in Ghana, this evening.

Remarkably, this is the fourth time Mapeza has been asked to take charge of the Warriors, with three of those assignments, coming on an ad-hoc basis, in times of strife.

The first call came in September 2007.

The Warriors were already out of contention for a place at the 2008 AFCON finals, after a 0-1 defeat in Malawi, a 1-1 draw at home to Morocco and a 0-2 loss to the Atlas Lions, in Casablanca.

Mapeza was summoned to take charge of the final qualifier, a dead rubber against Malawi, shifted conveniently to Barbourfields, amid raging fury, among the fans in the capital, of how the team was misfiring.

And, the Warriors, who had only scored once in the preceding 270 minutes of action, suddenly found their shooting range, with a comfortable 3-1 win over the Flames, in that dead rubber.

Kingston Nkhatha, Richard Muteki and Method Mwanjali were on target for them.

HIRING PLUMBERS DISGUISED AS COACHES

Then, just like that, Mapeza disappeared from the national team radar as the ZIFA bosses, who appear to have this faulty DNA which keeps telling them there is significant value in foreign coaches, irrespective of their records, struck again.

This time, they settled on another plumber, disguised as a football coach, who could barely speak English, as if communication with his players was something which was not important.

Most of his conversations were in Portuguese, as if the ZIFA leaders who settled on him forgot they were not looking for someone to coach either Mozambique or Angola, but one to take charge of Zimbabwe.

He was 61, when he arrived in Harare but looked more like a 91-year-old, lost in the chaos of everything which was happening around him, including the shock of really believing we had taken a chance on him, to lead us to the Promised Land.

His name was Jose Claudinei.

And, at a time when Mourinho was at the peak of his coaching powers, and being a Portuguese speaker too, it’s very likely ZIFA had gambled on this Brazilian, hoping his first name was also a password for greatness, like the Chosen One.

Everyone called him Valinhos and, predictably, it didn’t work out, his apparent lack of energy as much a handicap, as his coaching manual, which time appeared to have left behind. By the time his mess needed to be cleaned up, ZIFA, as they usually do, once again turned to Mapeza, the very man they had ignored, despite the promise of that victory, against the Malawians.

And, like a humble and loyal servant, Norman answered this call of duty, where his union with Musona started, with his Warriors starting off, with a good result, in the 2012 AFCON qualifiers, after that away draw in Liberia.

But, while the country felt this could be the start of something good for the national team, the ZIFA bosses were already plotting against Mapeza.

As he was flying back home, with his boys, after picking a point on the road in Liberia, the ZIFA leaders were already in secret talks, with Belgian coach, Tom Saintfiet.

They told him to dump his job in Namibia, despite the risk that such a move could strain diplomatic relations between two friendly sisterly nations.

For those ZIFA bosses, who were behaving as if they had spent a month on a secluded island, having a wild party in which they had been drinking whiskey on a daily basis, all this didn’t matter at all.

So, instead of using their brains, they chose to go with their instincts and brought in Saintfiet, and the baggage of chaos, which came with him.

Of course, it backfired terribly and with the commotion, including the only time the Warriors have had co-coaches in one game, filtering into the team’s camp, a goalless home draw, against Cape Verde, was the result.

And, no matter how they would try, including a 2-1 win over Mali, in which Musona scored twice, with the winner coming from a twice-taken last-gasp penalty, the campaign could not be salvaged.

In the end, the two points dropped against Cape Verde, during that Saintfiet madness, proved the difference, as the Warriors finished with eight points, while the Blue Sharks and Mali were on 10 points.

For the third time, Mapeza would be summoned to serve his country, after Pasuwa left, in the wake of the negative conversation which followed the 2017 AFCON finals.

And, once again, the coach was handed just one game, the 3-0 thrashing of Liberia, when Musona struck his hat-trick.

Today, he is back, for the fourth time and, not for the first time, it’s on an interim basis, a short-term contract, to take charge of four games, and clean the mess left behind by Loga.

THE GENERATION THEY CURSED, THE BOYS WHO WILL ALWAYS BE MY HEROES

It’s very likely we are now seeing the beginning, of the end, of the era of this Golden Generation, led by the Magnificent K&K (Knowledge and Khama) Brothers, which dragged us back into the major league of the continent’s most competitive football countries.

The boys who emerged on the scene, amid the gloom of repeated failure, the doom created by a Brazilian conman, wearing the camouflage of a football coach, and the blinding chaos, within a dysfunctional ZIFA board.

They have given us more than a decade of excellent service.

But, what did we give our boys, in return?

Absolutely nothing, to show that we appreciate what they have been doing for our country, except bringing them successive coaches, plucked from hell, to take charge of their affairs.

We brought Saintfiet, to take charge of one training session, before he was deported, for working without a work permit.

In return, we paid him a cool US$180 000, for his one morning shift, even when our boys, for the first time in the history of our football, were boycotting boarding their plane to Malawi, because of unpaid dues.

We even sent them, without any sense of shame whatsoever, into a risky and dangerous 600km road trip, through three borders, on a chicken bus, to fulfill their AFCON qualifier against Malawi.

That this was in the depths of winter, prompting their coach Callisto Pasuwa to come up with his heavy two-in-one blanket, didn’t make us feel any sense of betrayal, to their cause.

We gave them Valinhos, someone who should have been taken to an Old People’s Home on his arrival in Harare, rather than be entrusted with guiding the Warriors.

And, by the time he had left, after two wasted years, in which neither his English, nor our profile, improved, with just one win, to show for it, we still owed him US$60 000.

It’s a debt, which the ZIFA bosses chose not to clear, despite repeated warnings from FIFA.

And, it was our boys, led by the K&K Brothers, who ended up suffering, for the sins of their leaders, as they became the only group of Warriors to be thrown out of the World Cup qualifiers, without kicking a ball.

These boys will always tell us they would have qualified for the 2018 World Cup finals and, whether that’s true or false, we can’t argue otherwise, because we betrayed them.

ZIFA were prepared to pay Saintfiet US$180 000 while, at the same time, abandoning our boys, and destroying their World Cup dreams, simply because they couldn’t pay Valinhos US$60 000.

They then gave them Dieter-Klaus Pagels, who came here as a specialist of women football and, probably confused by his big role, he forgot Denver Mukamba, for all his brilliance, was a rebel.

Somebody who always needed a helping hand and, despite his apparent shortcomings, Pagels tasked Denver with leading others, as the captain of the Warriors.

ZIFA then conspired to punish our boys, by forcing them to be misled, by Loga who was, at best, a Croatian Clown and, at worst, a Bogus Benchman.

The association kept sending them to camp at a suburban lodge, whose bills they didn’t even care to pay and, now and again, these boys would suffer the humiliation of being locked out of their rooms, after returning from training.

They even became the first group of Warriors to be barred from training at the place they call their home, the National Sports Stadium, because of a fallout between ZIFA and the stadium’s management.

They pushed out their coach, Joey Antipas, who had guided them to four points, including a victory in Zambia, in his first two qualifiers, in exchange of a plumber, who would win just one game, in 14 matches.

They gave them Benjani, for just two games, Rahman Gumbo, Ian Gorowa, Mhofu, Pasuwa, Madinda, and about a dozen assistant coaches, including some who can’t even coach Simba Bhora.

But, amid all this gloom, these amazing Warriors kept on delivering.

They ended our nine-year wait for a return to the AFCON finals, by getting there in style, as they became the first group of Warriors to top their qualifying group.

At that showcase, in Gabon in 2017, they were the only Southern African side in action after both Zambia and South Africa, failed to qualify.

To show that wasn’t even a fluke, they returned to the 2019 AFCON finals, as the top team, again, in their qualifying group, in a campaign in which they also beat the DRC, in Kinshasa.

And, they became the first group of Warriors to qualify for three successive Nations Cup finals, which is an impressive turnaround, given they arrived when the country spent nine years on the sidelines.

Some might argue it’s now easier to qualify for a 24-team AFCON, which probably is correct, but Chipolopolo have missed the last three tournaments.

Bafana Bafana, too, will not be there in Cameroon, the second tournament they will miss, in the last three, to be held.

It’s becoming increasingly clear the Golden Generation, led by the K&K Brothers, have entered the beginning, of the final chapter, of their time representing us in the trenches of international football.

It’s also very likely that, given we won’t be playing anymore, in that part of the continent, in terms of either World Cup/Nations Cup qualifiers, this could be one of their last trips to West Africa.

Probably, their last flight to Accra, on national team business.

But, even if they fall, and fail, in their assignment today, it can’t take away what this golden generation of Warriors have given us, in a decade of excellent service to their country.

One in which, despite the spirited attempts by numerous ZIFA boards to try and cripple them, they found a way to restore the pride of Warriors and, along the way, dragged us back into the light.

And, for that, they will always be my heroes.

After all, the boy we introduced in Liberia 11 years ago, has now become a man with the Smiling Assassin showing us, during the 2019 AFCON qualifiers, he could finish among the top three scorers on the continent.

His five goals were only bettered by Nigeria’s Odion Ighalo (7) and Burundi’s Fiston Abdul Razak (6), while he even pushed Mohamed Salah, who ended with four goals, into the shade.

That cannot be wiped away by failure, even in one game, against the Black Stars where their mission is largely to try and clean up the mess left behind by Loga, and those who appointed this plumber.

To God Be The Glory!

Peace to the GEPA Chief, the Big Fish, George Norton, Daily Service, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and all the Chakariboys in the struggle.

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

Ronaldoooooooooooooooooo!

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