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Sharuko On Saturday

WHO is the genius, who really keeps coming up with these amazing scripts when it comes to our football?

Like, somehow, bringing Cameroon into the equation, with the Land of the Indomitable Lions, suddenly becoming the location of the sum of all our hopes, and the collection of all our fears.

As if it’s a return to a time, and place, when the Warriors were the real deal, ranked as high as number 40 in the world, and number seven in Africa, a ranking, which their status, and results, fully deserved.

As if it’s a return to the days of a proper ZIFA, Rita Musekiwa at the front office, Lazarus Mhurushomana at the back office, Ndumiso Gumede in the main office, each of them a fountain of football knowledge, and a symbol of great leadership.

As if it’s a return to the days of Agent Sawu, back in the days when we had a proper goal-scorer, leading our line for the Warriors, a natural gunslinger who scored six goals, during the ’94 World Cup qualifiers.

And, on the occasion he didn’t score, that day in Yaounde, our boys came just short, beaten 1-3, in the winner-take-all decider for a ticket to the World Cup finals.

Maybe, it’s just fate, reminding us of a time, when we used to be real Warriors, one of our boys could even score half-a-dozen goals in a single World Cup qualifying campaign.

Today, in our era of collective mediocrity, we have just scored twice in the group phase of a whole World Cup qualifying campaign, with one of the goals coming from a penalty.

That’s six goals, in 12 World Cup group qualifiers, scored by Knowledge Musona, Lincoln Zvasiya, Masimba Mambare and Kuda Mahachi — four different players — over a period of nine years.

That’s the same number of goals, which only one player, Agent Sawu, scored in just one year, from October 1992 to October 1993, during the ’94 World Cup qualifiers, for this country.

Today, the fear is that, in the worst case scenario, Musona might not get the chance to take the Last Flight to Cameroon, for what probably will be his swansong appearance, at the Nations Cup finals.

If that happens, the Smiling Assassin, probably the best servant for the Warriors since Peter Ndlovu hung up his boots, Musona’s final chapter, at the AFCON finals, would have come in Cairo.

That’s the city where his country’s football leaders, who are battling a suspension from the Sports Commission, flew to this week, to wine, and dine, with their counterparts from around the continent.

Of course, it’s a trip pregnant with controversy.

There have been concerns this was an act of shameless defiance to authority, an insult to sport’s regulator, and a reminder of the chaos, which continues to stalk sport, in this country.

But, it’s not the controversy related to this trip, which really is the subject of my interest, this week.

Instead, it’s the amazing coincidence, which has captured my imagination.

The coincidence that, amid all the chaos that has dominated our national game in the past two weeks, fate would throw Egypt, through this trip by the suspended leaders, into the equation.

In the uncertainty, related to whether or not the Warriors would feature at the next Nations Cup finals, fate had to bring in the Land of the Pharaohs, into the narrative.

As if to remind us of a place and city where we made our last appearance at the AFCON finals, just two years ago.

And, as if to remind us, of the very country we faced, on the occasion we finally came of age, and made our maiden appearance, at the Nations Cup finals.

That was in the Tunisian city of S’fax on January 25, 2004, when our national anthem, for the first time in our history, was sung at the continent’s biggest football festival.

Hearing every word of it, coming from both the players and our fans as I sat in the media box of the Stade Taeib Mhiri, really was such a beautiful experience, which words cannot describe.

I had been covering the Warriors for more than a decade by then, and together we had climbed some of the highest mountains, and swum in some of the deepest seas.

Sawu’s last-gasp goal, for the 1-0 win over the Indomitable Lions, really drove my emotions to the very edges of explosion, providing me with the closest thing, to ecstasy, which football could give a fan.

That all that could happen, when hope appeared lost, before what FIFA still insist if the biggest crowd to watch a Warriors match ever, about 75 000 fans, was the stuff of dreams.

It wasn’t only Sawu who was crying when the referee blew to end that match.

There were a lot of men and women in the stands, wiping away tears, trying to regain their breath, struggling to calm their emotions, battling to understand that this wasn’t fantasy but reality.

However, for all the emotions which were exploding within and around me, I didn’t shed a tear that day.

But, on that day, at the Stade Taeib Mhiri, on the coast of the Mediterranean, as the sound of our national anthem echoed in the background, I swear that in that beautiful moment, I shed a tear.

Overwhelmed by the occasion, impressed by the elite company and humbled by the assignment.

THREE IS THE NUMBER

We played three games at that AFCON finals, and returned home before we played another three games at the next Nations Cup finals, this time in Egypt, before returning home.

We played three games at the 2017 AFCON finals, and returned home before playing another three games at the 2019 Nations Cup finals before returning home.

Only THREE coaches — Sunday Chidzambwa (twice), Callisto Pasuwa and Charles Mhlauri — have taken charge of our Warriors, at the four AFCON finals, which we have graced.

Only THREE ZIFA bosses — Rafik Khan, Philip Chiyangwa and Felton Kamambo — have been in charge of the association, at the time the Warriors took part, at the AFCON finals.

The appearance of the number THREE, this week sent my imagination into overdrive and left me wondering:

• Why is it that in our failed bid to host the 2004 Nations Cup finals, which was won by Tunisia, we got exactly THREE votes to finish in second place, behind the North Africans, who received nine votes, while the joint bid by Malawi and Zambia received only one vote?
• Why is it that THREE years had to pass into the new millennium for us to finally find a way to exorcise the ghost that had haunted us for 23 years in which we had tried and failed, to qualify for the AFCON finals, with a number of our campaigns falling at the last hurdle?
• Why is it that we had to win THREE games, at home, (1-0 over Mali, 2-1 over Seychelles and 2-0 over Eritrea, during the 2004 AFCON qualifiers, for us to eventually book our place at the tournament?
• Why is it that the number of goals, which we conceded, during that successful Nations Cup qualifying campaign, when we eventually came of age, had to be THREE goals, which all came in the matches against Seychelles, one in Harare and two in Victoria?
• Why is it that it’s the campaign which marked the only occasion, when two brothers scored all our goals, in a victory in an AFCON qualifier, with Peter and Adam on target, in the win over Seychelles, and the number of our goals, in that game, had to be THREE (3-1 win for us)?
• Why is it that our first match, at the Nations Cup finals, against Egypt, produced THREE goals (2-1 win for the Pharaohs)?
• Why is that in our next match, at the same tournament, we had to score THREE goals, in the 3-5 defeat, to the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon?
• Why is it that in our final match, at the same tourney, against the Desert Foxes of Algeria, produced THREE goals, in a 2-1 win for us?
• Why is it that our leading goal-scorer, at that tournament, Peter Ndlovu, ended with THREE goals, why is it that the only time someone scored THREE goals, in a match, at that tourney, it had to come against us (Patrick Mboma’s hat-trick in our 3-5 defeat)?
• Why is it that, at that tournament, we ended with THREE points, from our win against Algeria, and why is it that the number of others players, besides Peter, who scored a goal for our Warriors, at that tournament — Esrom Nyandoro, Joel Luphahla and Adam Ndlovu – also had to be THREE?
• Why is it that the number of games, which the Warriors drew, during the 2006 AFCON/World Cup qualifiers, had to be THREE (1-1 against Algeria in Harare; 2-2 against Algeria in Oran and 1-1 against Gabon, in Libreville)?
• Why is it that the number of games, which our Warriors lost, during the 2006 AFCON/World Cup qualifiers, had to be THREE (0-3 against Nigeria, with all its consequences for my colleague Charles Mabika, 1-5 against the Super Eagles and 0-1 against Angola)?
• Why is it that the number of goals which Peter Ndlovu, once again the heart and soul of our Warriors, scored in those qualifiers, had to be THREE, in the 2-0 win over Rwanda in Kigali, 1-0 win over Gabon, in Harare, and in the 2-2 draw against Algeria, in Oran?

THE LAST SUPPER IN CAIRO?

Last night, Felton Kamambo, the suspended ZIFA boss, and Joseph Mamutse, the suspended ZIFA chief executive, wined and dined with other African national football leaders in Cairo.

The setting was the five-star Marriot Hotel, in the upmarket Zamalek section of this huge city, overlooking the Nile River.

If you talk to some officials, at the SRC, about all this drama, they will tell you that this was the duo’s Last Supper.

There were supposed to be THREE, at that dinner table, but Philemon Machana, the other heavyweight member of that suspended leadership, chose not to travel.

You have to give it to Machana, even if you might not agree with him, he has a cunning way of not being enticed by foreign trips, whether by shrewd calculation, or by mere coincidence.

Last week, the SRC clarified that Farai Jere and Barbra Chikosi have not been suspended from executing their duties as the leaders of the PSL and women’s football.

And, with Sugar Chagonda, declaring he will abide by the SRC suspension, it means only THREE elected individuals – Kamambo, Machana and Malandule – have been affected by the sanctions.

So, given Kamambo was in Egypt, I could not stop wondering:

• Why is it that the goal difference, for our Warriors, at the 2006 Nations Cup finals, had to be THREE — the two goals we scored, against Ghana, against the five goals we conceded against Senegal (0-2) and Nigeria (0-2) and the goal we let in against the Black Stars, in our 2-1 win?
• Why is it that the number of games we won, during the 2017 AFCON qualifiers, had to be THREE (1-0 against Malawi; 4-0 against Swaziland and 3-0 against Malawi) and why is it that the number of goals, which Khama Billiat scored, in those qualifiers, had to be THREE?
• Why is it that the number of games we won, during the 2019 AFCON qualifiers, had to be THREE (against Liberia 3-0, DRC 2-1 and Congo-Brazzaville 2-0), the number of goals Musona scored, in becoming the first Warriors skipper to grab a hat-trick, had to be THREE?
• Why is it that the number of goal- scorers, in our final match, at the last Nations Cup finals, were THREE (Jonathan Bolingi, Cedrick Bakambu and Curtis Assombalonga) in that 0-4 thrashing for us, in Cairo?
• Why is it that the first digit of the date of that massacre, in Cairo, had to be THREE (30 June 2019) and the name of the stadium was called June 30?
• If, the 2022 World Cup qualifiers have to be the final matches, which the suspended ZIFA board will ever take charge of, when it comes to the Warriors, why is it that they ended up choosing THREE coaches — Joey Antipas, Zdravko Logarusic and Norman Mapeza – for that?
• If we go by the mystery of the number THREE, maybe, this is the beginning of the end of the suspended ZIFA board members because:
• Why, is it that there were THREE ZIFA board members — Cuthbert Dube, John Phiri and Jonathan Mashingaidze  — who kept holding on, praying for a miracle, even when it became clear that their ship, was sinking in 2016?
• Why were there THREE ZIFA board members — Philip Chiyangwa, Omega Dube and Machana — who remained in charge of the association, after Kamambo and the late Piraishe Mabhena jumped ship, in 2019, in the turbulent final days of the previous leadership?
• Why are there THREE ZIFA remaining elected board members — Kamambo, Machana and Malandule — still holding on, and praying for a miracle, even as the SRC insist there will be no reprieve, irrespective of the backlash which will come with their move?

So, as I usually do, in such circumstances, I turned to the bible, to try and make sense of it all, and understand the meaning of all this, especially the number THREE.

I read about the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the THREE patriarchs before the Flood — Abel, Enoch and Noah — and THREE patriarchs after the Flood — Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

That there were THREE Wise Men, who brought THREE gifts, for Jesus our Saviour, and that the New Testament has 27 books, which comes down to THREE x THREE x THREE and that only THREE people had the permission to ask God any questions – Solomon, Ahaz and Jesus Christ.

That God gifted THREE things to Israel — the law of God, the land of Israel and the world to come. That Jesus prayed THREE times in the Garden of Gethsemane before His arrest and that he was placed on the cross at the THIRD hour of the day and He died at 3pm.

That there were THREE hours of darkness, which covered the land, while Jesus was suffering on the cross and there had been two other people, on the crosses, either side of him.

That after THREE days and THREE nights, Jesus Christ was resurrected and there were only THREE individuals — John, Peter and James — who witnessed Jesus’ transfiguration on Mount Hermon.

Jesus, as a child, had to be taken to Egypt, to be saved from King Herold.

No one really knows, but the power of the number THREE might be sending us a hidden message that the challenges we are facing right now are necessary for our football to find a way to rise from its deathbed.

All we have to do is to ensure we don’t forget the value of the THREE prayers and, when we do that, let’s not forget to also pray for the game we love.

In case you need guidance you can ask for one of the pastors we had in Egypt, two years ago, at the AFCON finals.

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 still in the struggle.

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

Ronaldooooooooooooooooo!

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You can also interact with me on Twitter (@Chakariboy), Facebook, Instagram (sharukor) and Skype (sharuko58) and GamePlan, the authoritative football magazine show on ZTV, where I interact with the legendary Charles Mabika, is back every Wednesday night at 9.30pm