The country has produced some of the greatest football talent, that has hogged the limelight both at continental and global level.
Some of the colossal talents have gone on to immortalize their names and secured their place in history and football folklore.
How can history forget or even dare to overlook Anfield legend Bruce the Jungle Man Grobbelaar, not to mention how it can be complete without the Great Peter Nsunkuzonke Ndlovu the first African footballer to play in the English Premier League.
The latter going on to become the first player to score a hattrick in over 3 decades at the home of English and European giants Liverpool on March 4, 1995 in a 3-2 victory for Coventry, scoring a penalty with David James on goal one of the greatest goal keepers in the history of the English game, time will not allow me to narrate how he would go on to become the longest serving African player in the English game a testament of the great talent he was.
It had to take more than a decade for another player to reach those heights with former Arsenal player Andrei Arshavin scoring a hattrick in a 4-4 draw with the Merseyside giants Liverpool on April 21, 2009, and to date the pair remain the only opposition players to score a hattrick at Anfield in the premier league era.
His gaffer at Coventry City at one point likening him to great Irishman the late George Best, not to mention how Robert Hewit Gould’s resignation would be said to have been reputedly inspired by the imminent sale of Peter Ndlovu to a top six club. With all that it is no surprise the special place the former Zimbabwe skipper holds at High field road in Coventry were they affectionately called him Nudy.
Then the undertaker Benjani Mwaruwari who with sheer hard work was suggested to Harry Redknapp by the great Frenchman Arsene Wenger going on to secure Legendary status at Pompey Portsmouth scoring a priceless goal against Wigan Athletic that kept them in the topflight.
Who would forget his goal on debut against Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United in the Manchester derby were the Citizens Manchester City got the double over their bitter rivals the first time since 1969. His second goal giving Manchester City the bragging rights of the first time they had scored 2 goals at the Theater of Dreams Old Trafford.
Their talent potential might not have reached the ultimate apex, but it surely came to the fore, reason they hold an indelible immortal stature in the history of the game.
Years have gone by since these great players stole the headlines, with many showing great promise but have only flattered to deceive.
With the turn of the second decade of the 21st century an exciting crop of young players burst onto the scene pregnant with a lot of raw talent, destined to trace the footsteps of the greats previously mentioned.
Knowledge Musona took the ABSA premiership in South Africa by storm making an instant impact when he signed for Soweto giants Kaizer Chiefs in 2009. His instant impact was made more special in that here was a young lad a teenager in fact unknown to most soccer fans in Zimbabwe and South Africa as he had no previous account of showing his talent on the field in the local premiership.
On the part of Kaizer Chiefs one has to say it was a great leap of faith to sign the young Musona and boy ooh boy did it not payoff as the young Musona terrorized defenders of opposing teams relentlessly. With sheer confidence of a veteran marksman his eye for goal and brilliance in taking out opponents was simply sublime.
It was not long before the young protege got the nickname “the smiling assassin” because of how he was terrorizing defenders in the ABSA premiership a true sign of how the young protege was endearing himself to the Amakhosi faithful and football pundits alike.
One of the most famed football pundits in South Africa Tshepo Mabona who used to host a show on SABC 1 SoccerZone, had a humorous phrase in reference to Musona giving defenders a hard time, “iZim dollar iyathenga” meaning the Zimbabwean dollar has buying power in apparent reference to the latter.
The plaudits were coming in thick and fast as Knowledge Musona was proving his prowess on the field of play and it was not long before he was touted as the next Peter Ndlovu because of how he was carrying the national team the same way the great King Peter did.
Who would forget the match Zimbabwe took on Mali at Rufaro stadium in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier were he literally carried the nation’s hope with a last-minute penalty in which the goalkeeper moved early off his lines to save the spot kick.
As fate would have it the match official ordered a retake, and the lad calmed his nerves to bury the spot kick home and rapturous Rufaro stadium erupted in celebration. Not to mention the Soweto derby where Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates battled it out, Musona would always grab the headlines in that gigantic fixture in South Africa.
It was not long before he caught the attention of European teams after a defining season in which he took the Lesley Manyathela golden boot scoring 15 goals in 28 league games, in the 2010-2011 season. The most prominent of the teams was Scottish Premiership giants Glasgow Celtic who made an offer to Kaizer Chiefs after Bundesliga side TSG Hoffenheim had approached earlier.
A KICKOFF publication of June 29, 2011, had it to the effect that, the Scottish giants wanted to boost their Champions league prospects in the coming season, with coach Neil Lennon writing a letter of intent to the Kaizer Chiefs hierarchy.
How the smiling assassin ended opting for a team that had finished 11th in the German Bundesliga the season prior over the top team in Scotland and the prospects of European Champions league football beats the mind of every football mad fan. The decision like Napoleon’s Bonaparte’s Moscow campaign proved to be the Waterloo of Knowledge Musona’s football career in Europe as what followed was not a near replica of what had endeared him to the football circles in South Africa.
The irony of it all another striker in Kenyan Victor Wanyama was signed from Germinal Beerschot at the same time Musona was being lured to Parkhead, and eventually went on to play for Tottenham Hotspurs, and Musona could also have traced the same path and ended up in the English premiership.
Before he could settle to life in the German league, he was loaned to fellow Bundesliga outfit Augsburg and by July of 2013 the once exciting striker who showed great promise was opting for a second dance at Kaizer Chiefs a move blasted by former national team players and coach Klaus Dieter Pagels.
As George Mbwando argued then how can you return to high school when you have reached University and tertiary stage, describing the move as an easy path Knowledge Musona was opting for. These are the most followed and watched football leagues across the globe and every football talent wants a chance to dance at that big stage.
The competition is therefore stiff and tough and for Musona it was a case of being faint hearted and not standing up to the challenge, and at TSG Hoffenheim he was in the same team with Anfield favorite Roberto Firmino so you can imagine the competition.
There was no coming back from that and what followed was a move to Belgium a league below the Scottish premiership he had overlooked when European football first made the call, in favor of the Bundesliga were everything flopped. A career that was pregnant with great prospects suffered a miscarriage. A number of other local players have also endured the same fate one would remember Kuda Mahachi’s dazzling performances at CHAN 2014 scoring the goal of the tournament, securing a move to Mamelodi Sundowns were all turned sour.
Most recently you have Marvelous Nakamba who was loaned to championship side Luton Town fc from premier league side Aston Villa. How can your performances be under par that you have to be loaned to a championship side from the main league where all the magic is happening?.
Considering how pregnant their careers were with enormous, raw football talent it suffered a miscarriage the heights they scaled are simply mediocre.
