Musona, Warriors, a pact made in heaven
FIVE months after the Cairo Capitulation, the Warriors begin a journey towards redemption tomorrow still being stalked by the ghosts from that humiliation, burdened by the weight of that destruction and tormented by the nature of that sensational collapse.
There won’t be a nearby Nile, or Red Sea, for salvation for the believers in the squad, but just the familiar smell of the green grass of home, and the welcome sights and sounds of thousands of their followers, ready to help them turn a new page.
The 0-4 collapse in Cairo at the hands of the DRC, still stinks — five months down the line — because it was as disgraceful as it was painful, with the Warriors being reduced to a rag-tag village team.
A Mickey Mouse collection of footballers who were pounded into the kind of submission that shames a nation, evokes emotion and cries out for a reaction.
The kind of shocking performance that destroys the powers of seduction, which these Warriors had cast on their fans, leading these supporters to believe they had finally got a team good enough to take on continental football’s aristocracy.
Inevitably, there would be consequences. Coach Sunday Chidzambwa quit, his backroom staff was swept away by the raging tide, goalkeeper Elvis Chipezeze was lynched, with some even outrageously claiming he was paid to throw away the game.
Still, the scars of Cairo are yet to heal. Ahead of the start of another AFCON qualifying adventure, which begins tomorrow evening against Botswana at the National Sports Stadium, focus has turned on captain Knowledge Musona.
Musona’s horrendous miss against Uganda, which could have given the Warriors a victory enough to take them into the knockout stages of the AFCON finals for the first time, remains a painful reminder of everything that went wrong in that Egyptian adventure.
And, his return to the squad, for the first time since the debacle in Egypt, has provoked debate across a domestic football family still trapped in the darkness cast by that ignominious exit from the 2019 AFCON finals.
Some have picked on his lack of competitive game time, others have questioned his mental preparedness, some have suggested he is simply living on his past.
Others have even gone to the extent of saying he should be pensioned off to join the likes of Benjani Mwaruwari and King Peter Ndlovu.
But, is it fair to suggest Musona shouldn’t be part of these Warriors simply because he isn’t playing for his Belgian side Anderlecht?
Simply because he had a poor AFCON finals in Egypt and simply because, in a crucial match, he missed the kind of opportunity he used to take with his eyes closed?
“For our national team, he is important,’’ argued former Warrior, Cephas Chimedza. “Just like when (Thomas) Vermaelen was not playing (for) Barca but was always in the
Rode Duivels (Red Devils, the Belgian national team).’’
And, Chimedza is right because the reality is that, for all his struggles to make an impression in Europe, Musona remains an integral part of these Warriors.
After all, only one other player, Khama Billiat, has scored an AFCON goal (against Uganda), for the Warriors, since the Smiling Assassin was last on target in March this year.
Yes, Knox Mutizwa is having a good run in the South African Premiership, where he leads the Golden Boot race with seven goals, but how can Super Diski be equated to the Belgian top-flight league?
And, if Musona was playing for Kaizer Chiefs right now, how many goals would he have scored?
That King Peter has the same Soccer Star of the Year awards (two) as Rodwell Chinyengetere doesn’t mean they are of the same quality because it takes away the reality that had the King remained at home, instead of going to England, he would probably have won this award a dozen times.
Admittedly, Prince Dube has been scoring in every game he has been playing of late, but there is a huge difference between doing that, on the domestic Premiership, and battling to get a slot into a team like Anderlecht.
After all, how come the leading goalscorer in the domestic Premiership, Clive Augusto, remains someone who left the league four months ago?
And, how come when he was thrown into those battles against Somalia, Augusto proved to be a lightweight, at World Cup qualifiers level, and didn’t even make an impression despite all the goals he had scored on the domestic front?
Tino Kadewere has been making waves in Europe but, even his biggest fans will be the first to admit, he has struggled to make a similar impression with the Warriors.
It’s easy to forget the same Musona, while playing for the worst team in the Belgian topflight last season, Lokeren, ended up as the third best goalscorer (five) in the 2019 AFCON qualifiers behind only Odion Ighalo (seven) of Nigeria and Fiston Abdul Razak of Burundi (six).
Only yesterday, France World Cup-winning boss, Didier Deschamps, was asked why he had drafted Olivier Giroud, who didn’t score a goal at the World Cup in Russia last year?
The same Giroud who has started just one game, and is yet to score in only 211 minutes of action for Chelsea this season, is in the squad for the Euro qualifier against Moldova tomorrow.
“There are not many in front of him, in terms of goals in the history of the France team,’’ Deschamps told a media conference yesterday.
“He did the right thing, he answered the trust.” Anthony Martial, now playing regularly for Manchester United, Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal) and Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona) have been ignored for the game against Moldova.