The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube, Sports Correspondent
WHILE Mighty Warriors forward Rutendo Makore is now a defender’s nightmare, she started out her football career closing up on strikers and making life hell for those seeking goals.
Upon realising she had a powerful body and could pack the power in a shot, she decided to switch positions and the move has paid huge dividends for her. Makore has been on fire at the 2017 Cosafa Championships that end today, scoring all the eight goals for her side in the three group stage games.
She netted her ninth goal in the semi-final against Kenya, when Zimbabwe won the match comfortable 4-0.
The dreadlocked player decided to go upfront during a temporary move from Cyclone Stars to Aces Academy in January 2008.
“I told my coach at Aces, Aleck Mudirira that I wanted to explore being a striker and he agreed, offering me advice on the changes I needed to make on my play. I have not looked back since then and have continued to improve as a striker,” she said.
Makore’s biggest asset is her head and she has put it to good use in aerial tussles, which she wins most of the time, banging in goals with headers. The Black Rhinos striker’s headers are so powerful that she uses them both in attack and defence, making her an envy of many Premier Soccer League strikers, who struggle to control the ball with their heads. Makore said she identified early that she was strong with her head and worked on improving that aspect.
“In any career, whether at work or in sport, it is important to identify where you are strongest and then develop that area. I realised I was good at heading then I perfected it, now I am working on my foot work because that is where I have to improve,” she said on Wednesday.
Makore said her performance in the group stages made her believe she can walk away with the golden boot but would not be lost to greater team’s aims, adding she would not sacrifice the team for personal glory.
On being asked which of her goals she considers the best so far in the tournament, Makore named three, the last one against Madagascar and the first, which she scored with her left foot and last goal, from outside the 18 area, against Malawi stand out for her.
The 24-year-old made forays into the game as a teenager at St Erick’s Secondary School in Norton.
Despite starting off as a netballer, she switched to football “just for fun” but she ended up playing with her feet.
While most female players struggle to convince their parents to allow them to play soccer, Makore’s mother, Vimbai encouraged and urged her on.
“My mother was a netballer and now she is a coach, while my father Kudakwashe Masumbuko played for Mhangura and South Africa’s Amazulu so my mother had no problems with me playing football, actually she encouraged me,” she said, adding she grew up with her mother whose surname she adopted.
Makore said while the game has not been financially rewarding, she was willing continue playing her heart out with the hope of attracting interest abroad.
She said playing in lucrative leagues abroad was one of her major objectives and she sees herself in Europe one day.
Makore’s exploits at the Rio Olympics last year saw Egyptian club, El Elemayeen Football Academy knocking on her door but she only stayed there for two months at the beginning of the year.
The affable striker said the moniker “Madzimai” should fall away now that she had turned her back on the Johane Masowe religious sect and was now with PHD Ministries.
“I know fans easily give nicknames but for me Madzimai is in the past, I see I am now being called Epoupa. I don’t know how many names I am soon going to be called with but that is football fans for you,” she said with a chuckle. While she is still single, Makore is in a steady relationship and is not searching. -@rasmthembo
