Last Sunday's two games further ignited the question that's been bothering most of us alot: should Zorodzai Murapa better known as Zoro be our outright striker since he is good at it or should he be an attacking midfielder which he is also good at?
The match between Happy People saw him start as a midfielder playing behind his brother Zeal who was partnering Benji upfront. He was accussed of "playing like Simba, delaying passes" Zeal even wondered; "i don't know how you two guys manage to combine well" before saying Zoro is selfish which many feel maybe a family thing since Zeal also denies striking partners passess when they are in better striking positions.
Zoro then went between the sticks in the second half and kept a clean sheet which had also been done by Tinz in the first half. But its the game with Vuvuzela in Oodi that saw stand goalkeeper Ronny and Thutsi let in goals that almost gave Vuvuzela a victory they did not deserve.
Zoro had been in goals in the larger part of the game with FC Broadhurst leading 3-1 and mid way through the second half, his cries for playing infield were finally heard by stand in coach Mozzy who got rocky defender Ronny take the goalie's jersey. But Ronny was more of a Morris Green-running all over the 18 yard area and it was a matter of time before Vuvuzela scored a second goal.
With a shaky Broadhurst that so desperately needed the referee's final whistle to blow, Thutsi went into and his immediate impact was to pick the ball from the nets and the biased referee certainly wanted a Vuvuzela victory as he let play go on into the dusty sunset of Oodi. All this long Zoro was upfront now partying in a six men strikeforce that had no cover from the midfield.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
when a mouse squares off with a lion...
Once again violence reared its ugly head this past weekend when F C Broadhurst was involved in a titanic battle with Chipolopolo. So strong was the line up that light weight players found themselves warming the substitute's bench. Thulani, forming part of the contingency giving support from outside decided to fill coach Bong's sizeable boots as coach, this did not go down well with the players on the field of play as the stand in coach kept misfiring failing to read the game well, it soon got to boiling point as the disgruntled players on the field of play started voicing out their concerns so loud that it ended up reaching the ears of the stand in coach.Thuts of the ''aMasimba'' fame was at it again, This time throwing obscenities at rock solid defender Moza (''zimonya''). Well, ''zimonya'' as he is popularly known, kept his cool till the end of the match and then complained during the post match team talk because of the insults that had been hailed at him, to everyones utter surprise, Thuts was even frothing and burning with anger accuzing moza of disrespecting his authority. Senior members of the team Benji and Tinz had to stand up and order the two to behave and act more maturely, stressing out that vulgar was not tolerated in the team. Thuts even tried to keep shouting that if anyone was willing to tek the matter further he was up to it ''amana kana zvave zvemaoko uyai, tinozvigona futi''
However all the madness soon turned to soberness when ''zimonya'' walked towards him, sensing that he could jus be dismantled in a minute, he quickly started cooperating lest he found himself as the boy being hammered(above).
It was however encouraging to see players parting with smiles on their faces. All attempts to get hold of coach Bongs have been fruitless at the time of going to the press, but it would have been nice to hear what the coach thought of his players' behaviour.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Chipolopolo not invincible
The President's Holidays presented FC Broadhurst with another chance to fair its play against Chipolopolo, the fancied Zambians who have created a name for themselves as a mean machine in the social soccer league.
Broadhurst came into the Tuesday match buoyed by a 14-4 thumping of Pascos FC on Sunday in Mogoditshane. The Pascos match was the last match for Thando Silongwe as a bachelor and it gave him a perfect send off as he got his name on the score sheet. His goal came during normal open play: Broadhurst had in a FC Barcelona style, toyed with the ball around thereby severely tiring the Pascos midfield and defence and this allowed Thando who was the goalkeeper to leave the sticks and join the attack.
Thando could have scored a hatrick had it not been for Benjie's stinginess. When he finally got the final passes he needed; on right side and on the edge of the 18 yard area, he let go a hard and low shot that the goalkeeper could not even attempt to stretch for because of its supersonic speed. When defense stalwart Mozy scored a replica Charles Puyol stubborn header that brought Broadhurst's goals to a tally of 14, the referee blew the whistle not because the match was over but just to end Pascos' miserable day.
Such a display gave Broadhurst the verve and vigour to face the Zambians but Karabo was not brave enough as he did not turn up for the match. He is usually the first to arrive for matches but on Tuesday he was nowhere to be seen. Other noticeable shaky cold knees were that of Tiego who when seeing the Zambians who play in the Botswana Bemobile Premier league became a bundle of nerves and when he was picked to start as a substitute all was well with the playmaker's soul.
Broadhurst started on a good note, cancelling out every Chipolopolo attack and keeping the physically fit and agile professional footballers off the 18 yard area. But the obvious happened after a quarter of an hour had been played - Broadhurst conceded a goal that no one could be blamed for. It was a screemer from outside the 18 yard area that hit the top right corner of the goals before thudding way over of the goal line.
That goal was like a bullet through the hearts of Broadhurst as they went into 10 minute spell where they were just out of sorts. Another bullet hit the cross bar and Zoro only was good enough to catch the ball as it came off the wood work before another attempt for goal by the cheeky Zambians. Chipolopolo is a nickname for the Zambian National soccer team that means copper bullets.
The teams went for the half time break with the copper bullets leading by a goal to nil and self belief crept back into Broadhurst as they realised that there wasn't much to differentiate between them and their professional opponents. Broadhurst had just given too much respect for people who did not deserve it.
The fear of being blamed for missing chances when asked to shoot at goal saw Benjie and Tinz opt to pass the ball to the next player and this gave the Zambians valuable seconds to regroup. Maqhawe who was playing behind strikers got into a scoring position and he did not disappoint as he fired home Broadhurst's equaliser.
Broadhurst began to see more of the ball as the defenders, Ronny, Mozy, Freed and Mudhawu kept a high line of defense which made work easier for their midfielders who had one of their most tiresome matches ever. Bra Hlo played his usual game, refusing to be intimidated by the rather overrated Zambians: holding the ball and dribbling willy nilly and shuttling from his holding position in midfiled to the left side of the midfield. Ronny had been holding the midfield before dropping to defense following an injury inspired substitution of rocky Parkers. The substitution saw Tiego come in and join Maqhawe, Simba and Hlo in the midfield.
Before long Tiego got his name on the score sheet as he calmly dispatched a penalty that saw Broadhurst take a memorable 2-1 lead. Benjie got to the end of a lovely patient build up in the midfield and his long legs enabled him to dazzle his way past two defenders and leave him one on one with a goalkeeper who is half his hieght and as he was about to pull the trigger, he was hacked down from behind by a defender he had presumably left for for dead. The referee pointed to the penalty spot and the natural choice to take the spot kick was the sure boot of Tiego.
It remains debatable if Benjie would have scored had the defender not brought him down, considering his penchant of wanting to kill the goalie with thumping shots and volleys even when there is no need to: often the result is him skying his efforts over the cross bar.
Broadhurst could have gone 3 goals up from a Tinz free kick from just outside the 18 yard area. There was a resounding eeeeiiisshh when the ball floated past the cross bar just a few inches higher than recommended to condemn an already out of position goalkeeper who stood rooted on the other side of the goal. Tinz had earlier in the first half forced an acrobatic save from the goalie from a free kick following another foul on Simba on the edge of the box.
There was definitely no room for "lami ngifuna ukudladla" as it was a battle field that called for fighters with the necessary arsenal. Sam Gwanzura came in for Bra Hlo and he immediately got himself deeply involved in the midfield battle albeit in an unfamiliar role of holding midfielder. He is a natural attacking midfielder and stand in coach Thutsi got it all wrong again just as he had done all afternoon by pulling out Sam with ten minutes left on the clock and have himself come in and claim the anchorman's role. He could have kept Sam in and the drop Simba to the holding position and let Sam and Tiego conjure a win as victory now seemed certain although Chipolopolo had managed to squeeze in an equalizer.
Indiscipline reared its ugly head again when Thutsi's running mouth got him spewing vulgar and obscenities at Mozy who despite his visibly intimidating frame kept his cool and laughed off a Thutsi that was almost frothing in the mouth with baseless anger.
Broadhurst came into the Tuesday match buoyed by a 14-4 thumping of Pascos FC on Sunday in Mogoditshane. The Pascos match was the last match for Thando Silongwe as a bachelor and it gave him a perfect send off as he got his name on the score sheet. His goal came during normal open play: Broadhurst had in a FC Barcelona style, toyed with the ball around thereby severely tiring the Pascos midfield and defence and this allowed Thando who was the goalkeeper to leave the sticks and join the attack.
Thando could have scored a hatrick had it not been for Benjie's stinginess. When he finally got the final passes he needed; on right side and on the edge of the 18 yard area, he let go a hard and low shot that the goalkeeper could not even attempt to stretch for because of its supersonic speed. When defense stalwart Mozy scored a replica Charles Puyol stubborn header that brought Broadhurst's goals to a tally of 14, the referee blew the whistle not because the match was over but just to end Pascos' miserable day.
Such a display gave Broadhurst the verve and vigour to face the Zambians but Karabo was not brave enough as he did not turn up for the match. He is usually the first to arrive for matches but on Tuesday he was nowhere to be seen. Other noticeable shaky cold knees were that of Tiego who when seeing the Zambians who play in the Botswana Bemobile Premier league became a bundle of nerves and when he was picked to start as a substitute all was well with the playmaker's soul.
Broadhurst started on a good note, cancelling out every Chipolopolo attack and keeping the physically fit and agile professional footballers off the 18 yard area. But the obvious happened after a quarter of an hour had been played - Broadhurst conceded a goal that no one could be blamed for. It was a screemer from outside the 18 yard area that hit the top right corner of the goals before thudding way over of the goal line.
That goal was like a bullet through the hearts of Broadhurst as they went into 10 minute spell where they were just out of sorts. Another bullet hit the cross bar and Zoro only was good enough to catch the ball as it came off the wood work before another attempt for goal by the cheeky Zambians. Chipolopolo is a nickname for the Zambian National soccer team that means copper bullets.
The teams went for the half time break with the copper bullets leading by a goal to nil and self belief crept back into Broadhurst as they realised that there wasn't much to differentiate between them and their professional opponents. Broadhurst had just given too much respect for people who did not deserve it.
The fear of being blamed for missing chances when asked to shoot at goal saw Benjie and Tinz opt to pass the ball to the next player and this gave the Zambians valuable seconds to regroup. Maqhawe who was playing behind strikers got into a scoring position and he did not disappoint as he fired home Broadhurst's equaliser.
Broadhurst began to see more of the ball as the defenders, Ronny, Mozy, Freed and Mudhawu kept a high line of defense which made work easier for their midfielders who had one of their most tiresome matches ever. Bra Hlo played his usual game, refusing to be intimidated by the rather overrated Zambians: holding the ball and dribbling willy nilly and shuttling from his holding position in midfiled to the left side of the midfield. Ronny had been holding the midfield before dropping to defense following an injury inspired substitution of rocky Parkers. The substitution saw Tiego come in and join Maqhawe, Simba and Hlo in the midfield.
Before long Tiego got his name on the score sheet as he calmly dispatched a penalty that saw Broadhurst take a memorable 2-1 lead. Benjie got to the end of a lovely patient build up in the midfield and his long legs enabled him to dazzle his way past two defenders and leave him one on one with a goalkeeper who is half his hieght and as he was about to pull the trigger, he was hacked down from behind by a defender he had presumably left for for dead. The referee pointed to the penalty spot and the natural choice to take the spot kick was the sure boot of Tiego.
It remains debatable if Benjie would have scored had the defender not brought him down, considering his penchant of wanting to kill the goalie with thumping shots and volleys even when there is no need to: often the result is him skying his efforts over the cross bar.
Broadhurst could have gone 3 goals up from a Tinz free kick from just outside the 18 yard area. There was a resounding eeeeiiisshh when the ball floated past the cross bar just a few inches higher than recommended to condemn an already out of position goalkeeper who stood rooted on the other side of the goal. Tinz had earlier in the first half forced an acrobatic save from the goalie from a free kick following another foul on Simba on the edge of the box.
There was definitely no room for "lami ngifuna ukudladla" as it was a battle field that called for fighters with the necessary arsenal. Sam Gwanzura came in for Bra Hlo and he immediately got himself deeply involved in the midfield battle albeit in an unfamiliar role of holding midfielder. He is a natural attacking midfielder and stand in coach Thutsi got it all wrong again just as he had done all afternoon by pulling out Sam with ten minutes left on the clock and have himself come in and claim the anchorman's role. He could have kept Sam in and the drop Simba to the holding position and let Sam and Tiego conjure a win as victory now seemed certain although Chipolopolo had managed to squeeze in an equalizer.
Indiscipline reared its ugly head again when Thutsi's running mouth got him spewing vulgar and obscenities at Mozy who despite his visibly intimidating frame kept his cool and laughed off a Thutsi that was almost frothing in the mouth with baseless anger.
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