CASTLE Lager Premier Soccer League leading goal scorer Tendai “Fire” Ndoro pejoratively calls his identical twin brother Takudzwa “Koronyera” (conman).
REPORT BY ALBERT MARUFU
Judging by the nickname, one would be misled into thinking there exists bad blood between the two, but alas, that’s not the case.
Unlike the biblical brothers Cain and Abel who loathed each other, the identical twin brothers are very close. For Tendai, every goal that he has scored this season soothes the pain of missing his brother, giving him the incentive to score more.
The two have, like doves, followed each other when growing up and they even joined Botswana’s beMobile league in 2009 until Tendai returned home to join Chicken Inn last year.
Takudzwa, a goalkeeper on the books of Botswana Extension Gunners, remained behind and the mere mention of his name brings back to Tendai nostalgic moments of the days when they used to spend time together.
Currently, everything seems to be going well for Tendai on the pitch having scored nine goals, three ahead the chasing trio of Dynamos’ Washington Pakamisa, Harare City’s Osborne Mukuradare and Nelson Mazivisa, although he is far from being happy.
“We are both married, but every day that passes by without seeing my brother Takudzwa brings a lot of pain. I miss him very much. If I score goals, it gives me something to smile about and eases the pain of missing my brother. He talks too much, hence the nickname Koronyera, but he is a lovely guy,” he said.
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Tendai added that he vividly recalls the sibling rivalry between them when they were in the Railstars junior teams as they were both strikers.
“We had rivalry because we were both strikers and used either feet. We would fight to outscore each other even though we were playing for the same team — Railtars juniors.
“Takudzwa turned into a goalkeeper 10 years ago in a Chairman’s Trophy game against AmaZulu. The regular goalkeeper was injured and from that day, he has been a goalkeeper. I think it was good because I always scored more goals than him,” he said with a chuckle.
Tendai, whose name one had to rummage to the bottom of the drawers to find before the start of season, attributed his new found scoring form on the local scene to a shrewd decision by coach Mandla Mpofu to give him a more central role.
“This is my second season at Chicken Inn and last year I was used as a winger, but scored four goals. It has always been my dream to play as a centre forward. The coach gave me that position this season and am very happy the goals are coming,” he said.
“I was a centre striker for Nicco United in Botswana and was a regular scorer in the two seasons that I stayed there. I enjoy playing as a centre striker.”
With his club sitting on position four with 23 points, six adrift of log leaders Highlanders, Tendai’s target is to help his side win the championship, as well as gatecrashing into the Warriors set up.
“It is difficult to set myself a target on the number of goals that I should score, but I hope they will be good enough for national team consideration and the Golden Boot.
I also feel ready to play for Zimbabwe and am patiently waiting for my time. I also want it help Chicken Inn win the league championship,” he said.
Ndoro’s Mzansi dream Like any other local footballer, Tendai, a Kaizer Chiefs supporter, wants to play in a foreign land with the Absa Premiership being his preferred choice.
“I do not want to play for any other local team besides Chicken Inn. It is not good to change clubs locally because the remuneration is almost the same. My dream is to play in the South African league and I hope that materialises soon,”said the Harare-born striker.
Tendai, together with Takudzwa, started their career with Railstars-juniors before joining Division One side Kujatana enroute to Botswana’ Nicco United in 2009.
He played for two seasons for Nicco United before coming back home in 2011 at the behest of Chicken Inn.
In his first season locally, Tendai scored only four goals but this season the gods seem to be smiling on him and it provides the solace for missing his brother.
For as long as fire is on fire, Chicken Inn’s dream of wrestling the championship is kept alive.
