The Sunday Mail
HOW I wish the Warriors’ poor African Nations Championships story turns out to be a hoax just like the one of the Eritrean government ordering men to marry at least two wives or face imprisonment.
How I wish it turns out to be a bad dream, one that will be brought to an end by that old lady (God bless the work of her hands) who sells floor polish and shouts “Cobra” each morning.
But wishes are not horses.
Three games played, two lost and one drawn.
And a single goal scored, three conceded.
That – ladies and gentlemen, comrades, friends and others – is the sad story of a team nicknamed the Warriors and a coach whom some of us love so much we don’t see anything wrong in everything he does.
We love Kallisto Pasuwa so much that when Zifa fires him we mourn, when he demands a public apology from Zifa we back him to the hill and when he turns down a contract demanding $ 7000 a month we argue the guy is a good coach, he deserves such a tidy sum.
And when he chops and changes his team like boxer shorts, watches his team play for seven minutes a man short despite still having a full complement of substitutes we choose to look elsewhere.
The Chan tournament continues in Rwanda but our boys are back home where they rightly belong.
Truly speaking the top table that sees continental football heavyweights dining is not for us, we take the game for granted.
Guys let’s face it, yes we love football and some claim we are a football nation but the facts, as proven by the stats, is that we are just poor a butt nation that’s living in a mirage.
We are not as good as we make ourselves believe and our coaches – with all their belief in juju and holy water – are poor souls we place on pedestals because we lack genuine coaches who read the game well and stay abreast with the latest coaching trends.
Despite a lack of friendly games the Warriors were given decent preparations by a Zifa administration that hasn’t turned out to be the disaster that yours truly and many of you feared they would be.
There was even a pledge to have them share the prize money but all that could not motivate skipper Hardlife Zvirekwi and his men into fighting harder, running faster.
The drive to earn more money through winning games and progressing to the quarter finals could not spur Edmore Chirambadare into converting one of the several chances he spurned.
If money and the need to defend the flag don’t inspire our players then we might as well request for gallons of anointing oil.
Now our God given coach – ably assisted by his God fearing Madzibaba assistants – claims they took a young team, a team that learnt a lot during their miserable Chan dance.
If Chirambadare cannot score such sitters and William Manondo does not have the IQ needed to know when to attack and when to take the ball to the corner flag to run down the clock then there is very little these boys can learn.
Yes a tournament as big as Chan will have lessons, plenty, but some minds are no capable of absorbing anything.
After conceding from a set piece against Zambia in the first game what did Pasuwa and his men learn?
Nothing!
We conceded via the same route against Mali and the same mistakes our team made in the first two games were all over the 1-all draw with Uganda.
Ours is a sad tale.
Goodbye Rosen
I knew Eric Rosen, knew him well.
They say you become a saint the moment the chariots of heaven come for you hence I will not bother you with the stories of the “shop” he used to run or the weakness he had of calling anyone with a darker skin by a silly name each time he got angry.
Our football is poorer without the guy.
Farewell Eric and be strong Liz.
Va Shagare 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].
