Red Devils return to haunt Zim
IT’S a classic dressing room image of a time when heartbreaking failure used to stalk the Warriors, back in an age when they were seemingly fated to collapse at the final hurdle and always found a way to slip into self-destruction mode.
Moses Chunga and Peter Ndlovu sitting side-by-side, their heads on their knees, their souls being tormented by a combination of both failure and the sheer cruelty of the drama which had unfolded just minutes earlier in this stadium they called their fortress.
Twenty seven years might have passed since The Herald photographer William Mafunga captures that iconic image but it remains frozen in the memory as a powerful reminder of the pain and anguish inflicted by the events of one of the darkest days in the team’s history.
The stage had been set for what was supposed to be a transformation of the Warriors from boys into men, when they would finally exorcise a ghost that had haunted them for years, by making the giant leap into the arena of the Afcon finals.
A breathtaking attacking display at the same venue three months earlier, with Chunga playing the role of conductor of the orchestra, and Peter and Adam Ndlovu irresistible upfront, had crushed Malawi 4-0.
It also boosted expectations among the team’s long-suffering fans that, after more than a decade of peeping from a distance as others graced the Afco finals, the march to the Promised Land would this time be completed. Even the football gods appeared to be singing in our corner given that the opposition they had sent for the cleansing ceremony were a team nicknamed Diables Rogues, or the Red Devils in English, the Central Africans from Congo-Brazzaville.
A victory for the Warriors would set them on the path to the ‘92 Afcon finals with the team taking control of the group with one round of matches to be played and Chunga and his men heavily favoured to complete the job in Malawi.
Henry McKop gave the Warriors a ninth minute lead before a capacity 60 000 crowd and Peter Ndlovu scored what appeared to be the winner in the 78th minute of that showdown against the Red Devils.
But in a farcical ending to the drama, the Congolese launched one final attack and sent a speculative high ball into the Warriors box which goalkeeper John Sibanda, a bundle of nerves all afternoon, should have collected in a routine save.
Somehow, he didn’t. And the ball was bundled home for an equaliser the visitors didn’t deserve and which shattered the dreams of a nation while providing the Congolese with the lifeline they needed to top the group and qualify ahead of the Warriors.
Like the curse of Brazilian goalkeeper Barbosa, whose blunder gifted Uruguay a winning goal at the Maracana in a match Brazil only needed a draw to become World Cup winners for the first time, Sibanda never recovered from that nightmare and took it into his grave eight years later.
The decision by coaches Ben Koufie and Armando Ferreira to field him in goals, ahead of regular ‘keeper Peter Fanwell, had surprised many, including Sibanda himself, and his teammate Willard MashinkilaKhumalo captured it all with a classic quote after match. “I saw fear in his eyes,” the midfielder said. Chunga and Ndlovu has been the standout players that afternoon but their remarkable shift for the cause of their team and country had been shattered by a goalkeeping blunder leaving the duo to shed tears in that dressing room.
It’s a measure of the enduring pain inflicted by the events of that day 27 years ago, when paradise appeared within touching distance, some are still struggling with the scars of that nightmare.
Matches between the Warriors and the Red Devils have been few and far between and this, in a way, has ensured that, on the rare occasions they clash, the horror of that unforgettable July 14, 1991, day has been relived.
“I hope they take the next big game in March to Barbourfields,” a taxi driver told me in central Harare on Monday.
“Something just doesn’t feel right with us playing such decisive big games at the National Sports Stadium.
“I was there when Kalusha (Bwalya) ended our hopes there in 1993 and l was there again when that disaster unfolded when we were about to lose to South Africa.
“Now, Congo are coming again in a game where we need a draw and l find myself with a lot of issues troubling me because l have suffered heartbreak in that ground before.”
The Congolese Red Devils have been poor on the road in this campaign after conceding three goals against neighbours DRC and being beaten 1-2 in Liberia.
They will arrive in Harare bottom of the table but with the incentive that a victory by any margin will be enough for them to qualify for the 2019 AfconN finals.
The pressure is not with them because they are not expected to win and, in football just like in heavyweight boxing, that is a good thing because it takes away a load from the shoulders of the players and gives them freedom to express themselves.
The pressure is now with the Warriors who have to find a way to avoid defeat, before an expected full house of their fans rallying in their corner, including thousands still haunted by the cruelty of history.
That a goalkeeper with a similar surname like John Sibanda, was thrust into goals in Liberia, ahead of regular ‘keeper George Chigova, will provoke fears among the superstitious fans of the Warriors that lightning could strike twice.
That Norman Mapeza, who was out-jumped by Kalusha for the priceless goal that gave Zambia a late equaliser in 1993 and a place at the next Afconfinals at the expense of the Warriors, started this journey by guiding this team to a 3-0 thrashing of Liberia, will be thrown into the fray. That Rahman Gumbo, who is now Mhofu’s lieutenant in the Warriors set-up, provides the link between those who suffered the trauma on the field when Sibanda blundered and also when Kalusha scored, and those fighting the team’s cause today, will also be thrown into the dish of fears. And that it’s the Congolese Red Devils who are coming to town for the final high stakes showdown for a place in Cameroon next year will also be used, by those who believe in the supernatural, that there is a reason for us to be afraid. They will probably point to that diabolical decision by the match officials to somehow disallow Knox Mutizwa’s perfect goal against the DRC, which would have sealed a place in Cameroon, as an indication that the Devil has been fighting against our cause.
They will certainly point to the glut of missed chances in Liberia, where the Warriors deserved at least a point which would have been good enough for qualification, as a bad omen of an adventure that might end in tears.
They will possibly point to the identity of the team that is coming to town next March, which we rarely meet, and the evil and darkness associated with its nickname, as another sign that things could probably go wrong. Incredibly, this will only be the fourth meeting in an Afcon qualifier between the two sides and the Red Devils have won one and drawn two of those games with the Warriors yet to win any of them.
History has a way of repeating itself but the comforting thing about this is that, even if the events of July 14, 1991, were to play out again next March, the result of that match would still be good enough for the Warriors to qualify.
For all that Knowledge Musona and his men need, in the worst case scenario, is a draw to go through.
And this is a team that has, in recent Afcon games, scored three against Malawi, four against Swaziland, three against Liberia and needed an own goal to concede against DRC in their fortress at the giant stadium. FORMER Highlanders’ board member Jonathan Sayi Moyo, who died last Saturday, will be laid to rest at Lady Stanley Cemetery this morning.
Moyo passed away at Mater Dei Hospital in Bulawayo last Friday night after a short illness.
He had been admitted for post operation care following a knee operation three weeks ago.
Moyo’s son Dothan said his father underwent an operation on the knee three weeks ago, but his condition deteriorated ever since and was readmitted to the hospital last Thursday before passing away on Friday night. “The late former Highlanders board vice chairman Mr Jonathan Sayi Moyo will be laid to rest at Lady Stanley Cemetery tomorrow (today) at 11AM. The church Service will be held at Brethren-in-Christ Church, Fort Street and Masotsha Ndlovu Avenue at 8am,” wrote the club on its official Twitter account.
Moyo had been a member of the club for more than 50 years, and sat on the board for 11 years.
Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce Raj Modi has also mourned the death of Moyo, whom he described as a great.
“May he rest in peace. As a Bosso fan and Zimbabwean, I am pained by Mr Jonathan Sayi Moyo’s death. We have lost a great man,” said Modi. Moyo was born in Ntunte, Filabusi, under Chief Maduna and attended Wanezi Mission before proceeding to Mtshabezi where he did his teacher training.
He taught in Filabusi before moving to Harare in the 1960s where he worked for various entities that include the Ministry of Education, Speciss College and then joined the then Rhodesia Bank (Rhobank), which became Zimbank at independence in 1980. Moyo also dabbled in politics and was a member of Zapu, leading some of the branches. He is the father to famed radio personality Brenda Moyo.
He is survived by wife Gladys, three children, Brenda, Dothan and Elnora, eight grandchildren and three great grandchildren.