The Sunday News
Yesteryear Greats with LovemoreDube
ZIMBABWE has been endowed with great goalkeepers, some of whom were unlucky to have played at the wrong time.
Debate still rages on as to who has been the country’s best goal minder. It is a contentious question and issues of club affiliation tend to affect reasoning on the subject.
There is no doubt however, that Bruce Grobbelaar signed from Salisbury Casllies as a teenager by Highlanders FC’s Silas Ndlovu remains the most successful of them all. After playing for Bosso, some club in Durban and Zimbabwe Saints briefly, the jungleman packed his bags in search of fame and fortune before landing at Vancouver Whitecaps in Canada.
It was from there that he moved to England where he eventually signed for Liverpool. He won virtually everything English and European football had to offer.
He undoubtedly remains the only Zimbabwean goalkeeper to have played at that level. Grobbelaar without doubt would make the final five top goalkeepers ever to emerge from Zimbabwe.
For later generations to which this writer belongs to, so much mention is made of John Walker Chipukula Phiri, the giant between the sticks who stood guard for Northern Rhodesia and City Pirates. He was a top goalkeeper as legend has it and made mockery of many a striker with great saves even from the penalty spot.
There were others like Rex Sheasby and Rob Jordan of the era behind him who did duty even for the nation.
The 1970s saw the arrival of many great goalkeepers of repute. Leading the pack was probably Posani Sibanda whisked from Hwange to Chibuku Shumba by John Meagher. He rose to national number one.
Sibanda was an all-round goalkeeper, who was quite agile and good on aerial balls. Ball distribution in those days was not much of an asset to look for as all goalkeepers were content with pumping the ball forward.
Sibanda was to return to Hwange in the mid-1970s where he stayed until his retirement a decade later with a number of local goalkeepers from clubs like Brazil, Kabwe, Rufaro Rovers and Black Aces failing to beat him to the number one slot.
His long service to the club meant his assistants Weekly Mwale ranked the third best Under-20 goalie in 1980-81 behind Japhet Mparutsa and Lucky Dube, and Johannes Kazambia could not get a chance to prove their mettle at their peak.
There was Matthew Mwale in Harare, a great goalkeeper too.
Mhangura’s fiery side of the late 1960s and early 1970s had Booker Muchenu as the last man in their defence.
Zimbabwe Saints is a club that has seen a fair number of goalkeepers come through its ranks.
Both the imposing Musa Muzanenhamo and Zebron Magorimbo who did duty in the 1970s were superb goalkeepers. But they may have played at the wrong time to lay a claim among the very best as competition for recognition was very stiff.
At Independence CAPS United would settle matters with a toss between Duncan Ellison and Stephen Chisango.
Dynamos’ Labani Kandi was a good goalkeeper too who played for one of the best Mbare sides with lots of talent. Being the last man in a team that had David George, Sunday Chidzambwa, Shaw Handriade, Oliver Kateya, Misheck Chidzambwa, Lincoln Mutasa, David Masubey and Kuda Muchemeyi would certainly give one the confidence to guard goal.
Raphael Phiri of Rio Tinto and Mike Mhlanga of Olympics and Arcadia who for a long time deputised national team goalkeepers, used their height to the maximum. But it was their vulnerability in dealing with low shots that may have affected their rise.
Zisco’s Victor Dliwayo was not a bad bet. Japhet Mparutsa probably the most capped Zimbabwean goalkeeper after Independence would probably rate second to Grobbelaar. The Short Cat was every striker’s nightmare.
He was brilliant on one-on-one situations, could smother hard shots with a single hand and his counter attacks with the drop kick often started most of his teams’ attacks.
Plucked from Dynamos by Black Rhinos, Mparutsa was on the calendar a number of times with impressive displays which eventually led to a move to South African side Bloemfontein Celtics.
The move however, came too late into his career as he could have easily made it to Europe or to Mamelodi Sundowns, Orlando Pirates and South Africa’s most followed side, Kaizer Chiefs.
He was a charismatic figure who commanded respect even from the opposition fans because of the immaculate way he went about his business.
Another gem emerged in 1980 in the form of Frank Mkanga. Plucked from Zisco, Mkanga had a number of caps for Zimbabwe and moved to Dynamos in the capital.
He however, did not last long in the game but had made much impression to all those who watched him.
Highlanders’ long serving Peter Nkomo a former Mzilikazi High School pupil, is rated among the best goalkeepers too.
After grabbing the Number One jersey from Yonah Malunga in the South Zone League days of 1977-79, Nkomo went on to be a long serving servant of the club who called time on his career in 1993 after an injury. He was called up to the Zimbabwe Five-A-Side team in 1989 and several times to the Warriors but his crowning moment was the Goalkeeper of the Year award in 1988.
Brenna Msiska or Baba Gari as he is affectionately known would not be missing from the list of great goalkeepers to play on our stadia. The former Black Aces and Vaseline Blue Seal Goalkeeper of the Year winner, enjoyed more success as a player when he moved to CAPS United.
He deputised a number of goalkeepers in the Warriors.
John Sibanda of Zimbabwe Saints, Ben Nzelengwe, Muzondiwa Mugadza and Phathisani Hlabangana are some of the best remembered good goalkeepers to come out of Saints’ nursery in the last 30 years.
Mugadza and Sibanda were at one time Zimbabwe goalkeepers. Both were big and amazing footballers who could rise to the occasion to keep Saints in the game.
Sibanda was the team’s goalkeeper in the 1988 victorious league and Chibuku campaigns.
Basketball player turned footballer Peter Fanwell too left his mark in the beautiful game. Standing at close to 2m in height he had a successful and medal laden stint with Dynamos.
Nelson Bandura, a member of the 1995 All-Africa Games team was another great goalkeeping talent. His exploits between the sticks led to a successful stay at Mamelodi Sundowns in South Africa.
Tapuwa Kapini, Chenjerayi Dube, Britto Gwere and Energy Murambadoro were good too during their time in the local league.
My choice of the best five goalkeepers would be Bruce Grobbelaar, Posani Sibanda, Japhet Mparutsa, Frank Mkanga and Muzondiwa Mugadza.
