After kissing frogs…. DeMbare find gold
By Makomborero Mutimukulu
Dynamos have over the years kissed frogs as they desperately search foreign terrains for the x-factor, search for a striker who can make them ruthlessly dominate these shores once again.
The Glamour Boys have paid a fortune for players such as the Zambian duo of Arthur Kaseloki and Dereck Kabwe as well as Democratic Republic of Congo pretender Fabrice Mbimba.
Kaseloki and Kabwe wore the blue strip in 2012 but returned to Zambia without making much impact save for the nasty looks that former team manager Nyika Chifamba, who facilitated their signing, got each time the pair under performed.
Mbimba arrived two years later and proved to be a fraud, a serious one. The Congolese will best be remembered for a video he shot pleasuring himself in the bathtub which went viral and ultimately marked the beginning of the end of his stay.
However, in 23-year-old Ntouba Epoupa Christian Joel, the club appears to have struck gold. Although standing at 1, 7 meters, the Cameroonian doesn’t come across as a fearsome, imposing striker because of his lack of flesh on the bone.
However, Ntouba has shown, over the past few weeks, that he has the ability to sneak into the right places. Ntouba has scored three goals for DeMbare so far, the latest being a peach volley which gave his club maximum points against Harare City at the National Sports Stadium on Thursday evening.
Dynamos coach Lloyd Mutasa described the goal, which probably gave him some much needed breathing space, a wonder goal from a great striker. “When we signed Christian we told our faithful that we finally had the guy we had been looking for all along and I believe they are beginning to see what we were talking about,” he said.
Ntouba, in his first interview since arriving from Cameroon at the beginning of the year, insisted that there is more from where the wonder goal against the Sunshine Boys came from. “It was a good goal but it’s not the best I have scored, I have scored far more beautiful goals. “The best goal I have scored so far is the one I scored for my former club Foudre Sportive, the last minute of a cup final,” he said.
Apart from the persisting cash challenges and missing his family, the Cameroonian hit man revealed that he has fallen in love with life in Zimbabwe. The lads in the DeMbare dressing room have taught him a few Shona words but as would be expected, most of the words that Ntouba can utter are vulgar.
“The streets here are not as noisy as those in Cameroon, I love it. Yes the cash challenges make life a bit difficult but overally I am okay. “My teammates have been good to me while the fans are always there for us, standing by us in good and bad times,” said Ntouba who turns 24 next month.
Having gotten off to life as DeMbare’s leading man to a flying start, the former Cameroonian junior international is not keen to talk about goal targets.
“I am here to help the team, it’s never about an individual,” he said. “We all want to do well and if I can help the club collect three points and some trophies then it’s a good thing. I cannot celebrate scoring when we go on to lose the game. The team is more important than the individual.”
Away from the game, Ntouba reckons Jah Prayzah is the best musician in Zimbabwe and is comforted by the fact that he can still eat some vegetable rice even when he is far away from home. The Sunday Mail
