Waiting for redemption

◆ nervous that each time the ball sailed into the box the spectators held their breath,” wrote the late Sam Marisa.

But when Peter Ndlovu scored with 17 minutes remaining the supporters who felt uneasy each time a long ball came Sibanda’s way could see Senegal, the 1992 Afcon venue.

However, Sibanda had one more howler and it came in the 92nd minute. The Zimbabwe goalkeeper fumbled a Didier Mbemba header across the line in one of local football most infamous mishaps.

The records show that the game ended 2-2 but the truth is that Congo came to Harare and did a number on a Zimbabwean team that also featured Willard Khumalo, Memory Mucherahohwa and Adam Ndlovu.

On 14 July 1991 Khama Billiat was barely a year old, Knowledge Musona had celebrated his first birthday three weeks earlier while Marvelous Nakamba was still in his father’s loins.

However, the weight of what happened at the NSS 21 years ago will be on the trio and the rest of the Class of 2019 when the Warriors face Congo next month with the ticket to the Africa Cup of Nations again at stake.

It is up to the current crop of national team players to exorcise the ghost of 1991 when Congo coach Noip Minga added salt to the locals’ wounds with a post-match interview that was brutally honest.

“We maintained the pressure all the time and the Zimbabweans made silly mistakes which cost them the game,” Minga was quoted as saying back then.

What the current Congo coach Valdo will say after the March 24 game at the NSS is stuck in the spiritual realm.

However, the current generation of Warriors has it within them to right the wrong of 1991 by doing the business and taking the country to Egypt. The so near yet so far Class of 1991 is yearning for redemption more than two decades later.