BY FORTUNE MBELE
THIS year marks 20 years since FC Platinum striker Mkhokheli Dube made his professional football debut in the domestic Premiership after breaking into the Highlanders first team in 1999 at the tender age of 17.
And the veteran forward, who turns 36 on June 18, is as hungry as ever and still going strong as he prepares for another dance in the top-flight with champions FC Platinum.
“It’s has been a long, arduous and adventurous journey for me and it has come through hard work and dedication to my job, which I love. I have been lucky and blessed to do something that I love as a career,” Dube told The Sports Hub in an interview.
“Being away from home (in the United States) helped me realise that football can take you places as long as you are dedicated, focused and disciplined.”
Dube’s career took him from Highlanders to the US where at his prime. He featured for American Major League Soccer (MLS) side New England Revolution between 2008 and 2011 before returning to Africa to play in the South African Premiership with AmaZulu in South Africa in 2012.
After a short stint in South Africa, he returned home and joined Chicken Inn in 2013 and was laid off mid-season in 2015 when the Gamecocks won their maiden Premier Soccer League (PSL) title.
He did not lose hope, but went on to sign for Bulawayo City when the local authority side was promoted into the PSL in 2016, catching the eye of coach Norman Mapeza, who signed him a year later.
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Dube, who first tasted Premiership success with Highlanders almost two decades ago in 2001 and 2002, celebrated yet another PSL title success in his first season with FC Platinum in 2017 before clinching it again last year and reaching the group stages of the CAF Champions League.
The soft-spoken forward says playing for Highlanders at an early age emboldened him to aspire for bigger challenges while his four-year stint in the MLS moulded him into an accomplished professional.
“At Bosso, I was exposed to the demands of the game at an early stage and that has kept me going through the years. The immense pressure you get for playing for a club like Highlanders gives you the upper hand because you get to deal with so much pressure from the fans, thus making one level-headed. And if you are not strong-headed it’s hard to succeed,” Dube says.
“Playing in the MLS helped a lot in developing my career as I was exposed to top quality training facilities, a high level of professionalism and more so the type of play. Just being in a different environment helps one grow as a person and be responsible for whatever decision one takes,” he said.
Dube is excited to be playing in the Caf Champions League with FC Platinum having made his first bow in the prestigious competition with his boyhood club Highlanders, where he played with the likes of Gilbert Banda, Honour Gombami and Vusa Nyoni, just to mention a few.
The former Zimbabwe youth international scored for Highlanders when they hosted Tunisian giants Esperance at Barbourfields in the same tournament in 2003.
“Playing in the Champions League is a great experience for our team as we advanced to the group stages, a feat that has eluded and has been difficult to reach for Zimbabweans clubs. I have played before in the competition and scored for Highlanders against Esperance. It’s a great feeling to be participating at this stage again,” Dube said.
The veteran striker says he is looking forward to another season and is grateful to his current employers FC Platinum for their continued faith in him and his abilities.
“I am grateful I am still playing and very much thankful to the people that believe I can still do this job. I am very much looking forward to the upcoming season because we will be trying to defend our title. It is going to be challenging, but we are up for it. As long as I still wake up in the morning and feel great to go to training, I will keep going. God willing, I will play another season and see how I feel at the end of the year. I will stay in football. However, I am not sure what I will be doing but it will be in football,” Dube said.
Although he is still actively involved in the game as a player, three years ago Dube formed a club, Zebra Revolution, which is based in Bulawayo’s Tshabalala suburb where he grew up. The team competes in the Zifa Bulawayo Province Junior League.
Dube is also a holder of a Brazilian Soccer Institute (BFUT) coaching certificate, CAF C Licence and a Zifa Level Three coaching badge.
