BLOEMFONTEIN - Elvis Chipezeze is a realist. Even when his performances for the club have been such that he should be a shoe-in for national team call-up, the goalkeeper is content with his lot.
Zimbabwe’s national team have qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) without his services and while he would love to be part of the Warriors squad in Morocco late next year, Magesi’s number one knows that team selection is the prerogative of the coach.
And he was not about to highlight his brilliant performances for the Premiership rookies in the Carling Knockout to force the coach’s hand into calling him up.
Chipezeze was colossal in Magesi’s fairytale run in the country’s ‘league cup’ as he won Man of the Match awards in all of his club’s four matches that resulted in them being crowned champions. He pulled off some good saves against Mamelodi Sundowns in the final played at Bloemfontein’s Toyota Stadium at the weekend as Dikwena beat the favourites 2-1.
“For now I am just focused on making the club grow, that’s the most important thing,” he said during the post-match media conference deep in the bowls of the arena mainly used for rugby matches.
“Personally, I would like to go back to the national team but the guys that are there are doing well also. It is good that I am also in the fold and with my performances and through hard work maybe the coach…… but at the end day it is the coach’s decision. They say if you work hard, the rewards will come. I will continue with consistency. We will only be playing Afcon in December, so we will see….”
Chipezeze is delighted to have helped Magesi to victory in the Carling Knockout.
“Step by step, we are growing and I am just here to make sure that the kids are doing well and when they see me work hard and they also see me pushing they will work and there are people who look up to me and it’s important that I put a smile on their faces…”
Chipezeze was winning the League Cup a second time, having been victorious with Baroka FC in the Telkom Knockout back in 2018. He could not say which of the two was the sweeter.
“Both of them are very important. I remember when I came to Baroka we were also trying to push for silverware in the Premier League and we managed to do that,” he said.
“Our run from that year up until the final was something else. We played Golden Arrows, Sundowns, Wits and then Orlando Pirates.
“Also the same now, we faced Pirates, TS Galaxy, Richards Bay and then Sundowns. For both of them, no one really gave us a chance to be honest, so it is through hard work for the boys and credit must go to them for working very hard and both of these wins are very important.”
Renowned for his time-wasting tactics, Chipezeze claimed he has matured and no longer does that much, the fact he’d just spent a lot of time being attended to by the medics in the match that had just finished.
“If you can check, it is not like in 2018 when I was still not mature enough. If there is contact I have to go down, that’s how it is...So, I am changed now, you can see it for yourselves. But that side’s gonna be there. I like it when they say, ‘Chipezeze moment’ – it is nice for people to speak like that. It is football banter and if it makes the fans happy I will continue doing that.”
That’s Chipzeze for you, a Carling Knockout champion and four-times Man of the Match award winner.