The Sunday Mail
IT feels nice to deviate a little from the boardroom action and dwell more on the real action on the field of play.
For it is the main reason why millions of supporters, the real owners of the game, part with their hard earned dollars, pounds or francs to watch their favourite teams in action.
It is the reason why football associations and international clubs earn billions of dollars through TV rights and other endorsement deals.
The Cuthbert Dube saga has been with us for quite a while now and the embattled zifa president has suffered blows from left, right and centre.
He stands accused of causing or failing to stop all the ills that our beloved national game finds itself suffering from at the moment.
The push for his ouster has become more emotional in recent days as the just ended 30th edition of afcon served as a painful reminder of the poor state of our game.
Dube’s beleaguered zifa has grabbed the headlines, he has become a permanent feature on the back pages of the mainstream media and many are convinced his ouster will bring a positive turn of fortunes for the ailing game.
In an offseason where player transfer news are traditionally cannon fodder for the media, the zifa saga has sadly taken over and the Dube story has emerged the most popular of the pre-season.
Dube’s story has even become more prominent than the Mighty Warriors, the poorly funded girls who will soon be getting into the trenches in the All Africa and Olympic Games qualifiers.
Or the Young Warriors, those promising boys who are expected to carry the national flag in the same competition as well as the African Under-23 Championships — which will culminate in the qualifiers for the 2016 Olympic Games set for Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
Thank God, Swaziland, our first round opponents in the All Africa Games pulled out, offering us the much needed breathing space as most of us know that our own Young Warriors were not as prepared for the tie as everyone would have loved.
Whatever action or sanction CAF will mete out on the Swazis, no one here cares, in fact this is a blessing in disguise for the troubled zifa, who usually grab the headlines for the wrong reasons prior to international assignments.
It is sad that Dube has grabbed all the attention, getting all the focus at the expense of the main actors of the game.
More than Gift Bello, that pint-sized tough defender who leads a cast of milk-nosed players as FC Platinum, the country’s sole representatives in Africa this year, plunge into the CAF Confederations Cup.
More than the gifted Norman “Nomara” Mapeza, the charismatic gaffer whose tactical nous comes under intense scrutiny when he leads the Pure Platinum Play boys into the preliminary round fixture against Kenyan side — Sofapaka — this afternoon.
Love him or hate him, but the truth is Mapeza has brought this aura of invincibility at the Zvishavane side ever since he took over from Lloyd Mutasa in August last year.
He has changed the culture at the cash-rich club whose moneyed players were naturally prone to the side effects of night life and all kinds of image battering off the field behaviour.
He has breathed professionalism and toughness into a side whose administrative genius was not matched by results on the green grass.
No doubt, Mapeza could probably have easily walked away with the 2014 Castle Lager Coach of the Year award had he started earlier and his trophy-laden short spell says something about this coach’s abilities.
But the real test begins today when he guides his boys into battle against Sofapaka, a highly ambitious side that was only founded 10 years ago but has already played once in the CAF Champions League in 2010, when they bowed out in the preliminary round at the hands of Egyptian side Ismaily.
Mapeza sounded bullish on Friday morning when FC Platinum departed for Nairobi, his confidence dripping onto the players, who also looked calm and composed ahead of what possibly is the biggest game for some in the squad.
Walter Musona, Wisdom Mutasa, Tatenda Dzumbunu, Brian Muzondiwa, Raphael Muduwiwa and the Moyo twins (Kelvin and Elvis) are all players who represent the future of Zimbabwean football.
And they looked comfortable, in the midst of veterans Thabani Kamusoko, Donald Ngoma and of course Bello as they walked through the Departures entrance at the Harare International Airport on Friday morning.
Mapeza and his boys might be playing a thousand miles away from home, obviously in front of a hostile crowd but FC Platinum require the nation’s soul support as they lift Zimbabwe’s flag in the African safari.
Go FC Platinum go, show Africa the stuff you are made of, make Zimbabwe proud and at least bring back smiles to the faces of the football-mad Zimbabweans.
Mapeza, show us that what you achieved with the Warriors in that short but eventful stint a couple of years back was no fluke.
God bless you all.
VaShagare exits the scene.
VaShagare is the founder of DeMbare DotComs and can be contacted on that Facebook page as well as the email [email protected]
