The Sunday News
THEY went to Rwanda for the African Nations Championship (Chan). And prior to their departure they were touted as having the potential to bring us the long sought after joy, and at the same time we hoped they will salvage our lost pride as a footballing nation.
But lo and behold, they brought us more despair, anguish, sorrow, uncertainty, hopelessness, and haplessness. We still grope in the darkness as we seek that salvation, an antidote to failure.
In life there are admittedly absurdities such as ups and downs, but it is how we deal with those “downs” that at the end of the day, count.
After watching all the three games in which Zimbabwe was involved in; first against Zambia, then against Mali and Uganda. There was certainly a lot of what was missing — that Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League touch.
After all our premier league is one of the best soccer leagues in Africa.
Glaringly and lacking was that Pure Platinum Play, the Glamour that goes with maDeMbare, the touch-me-not attributes of Bosso, the never-say-die attitude of Makepekepe, and the intense slogging of Chipangano.
A Chinese proverb has it: “You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from falling over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests.’’
Where do we stand as a nation notwithstanding our disappointments in the field of play in recent years vis a vis our recent debacle in Rwanda?
All things point to us being in the same boat with that famous explorer Christopher Columbus, who did not know where he was going when he started his travels.
When he got there he did not know where he was, clueless, and when he got back, he did not know where he had been. Does that sound familiar?
In the aftermath of our failure in Rwanda people want to force the lack of experience, lack of practice matches mantra on us.
They want us to behave like that proverbial bird which couldn’t sing because it had an answer, but sang because had a song.
Please let’s agree to disagree here.
It also boils down to a story of a powerful rich businessman, who invited some poor fellows for dinner at his posh house.
The guys were worried about their manners, so they decided to do everything the businessman did.
The meal passed smoothly until coffee was served and the businessman poured his into a saucer. They followed suit. Then he added sugar and cream. The visitors did likewise. Then the businessman leaned and gave his cat.
Some people raise expectations where there is no hope, and they think we should FOLLOW SUIT.
We sent a bunch of ill-prepared no-hoppers in Rwanda, and we got our comeuppance.
We didn’t send our Warriors for the hunt, but we sent a bunch of pretenders who were keen for an offseason well deserved holiday.
How can we explain this!
Suddenly a bunch of players who have taken it upon themselves to miss numerous scoring chances, are treated like innocents; players who fail to string passes are forgiven because they “lack experience.’’ My foot.
In the aftermath of the confusion that bedevilled our preparations, what should we have expected?
A coach was fired and reinstated, the same coach became pre-occupied with fighting for a hefty monthly salary of $7 000 from a cash-strapped Zifa, at a time when we preparing for a continental tourney where men are separated from the boys.
That amounted to lost ground.
Finally, it is the conduct of any man to struggle and fail, it is equally the conduct of great men to rise and soar. And the latter is worth emulating.
The world is awash with such stories.
We should quickly go back to the drawing board, and get it right next time around.
The African Cup of Nations qualifiers resume in a month. And time is simply not on our side.
I rest my case.
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