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lovemore dube, [email protected] 

GREENFUEL goalkeeper, Nedric Madeya is happy with where Daniel Msendami has taken his game.

He says in Msendami he had seen things Neymar did on television with his skills and Msendami was pulling the same tricks.

Msendami was capped on Sunday and became a full Zimbabwe international when he featured in the whole match against Zambia in the 6-5 penalty shootout victory over Zambia, in the semi-finals of the Malawi Four Nations tournament.

The former Highlanders winger who was promoted to the Bosso first team by the legendary striker Madinda Ndlovu in 2018, plays for Jwaneng Galaxy in the Botswana Premiership and they have just lost out on progressing to the next stage of the African Champions League after a poor Group Stages campaign.

On March 17, 2019, Madeya posted this on Facebook: 

“This is Daniel Msendami plays for Highlanders, he is one of the five Under-20 players but when he is on the field, he is a senior player in terms of skill. Zim, let’s watch and see our next big star.”

Madeya was over the moon on Sunday to see his former Highlanders junior making his debut for the Zimbabwe senior national team.

When Madinda left, successive Bosso coaches would not have room for the youngster until he tried his luck at Bulawayo City FC and proceeded to Vubachikwe in the Central Region two years ago, where he did not play many matches.

He returned to Highlanders after the second transfer window of 2022, but would quickly be snatched by the Batswana.

“The first time I met Daniel was back in 2018 when coach Madinda assembled a squad mostly from juniors, having us as the senior players. 

“When we started training I would observe how Msendami played, because all I had in my mind was to understand how each and everyone played so that I could play better. But what I saw from Daniel was massive, it is very rare to see a young player doing things that mostly I saw on TV done by Neymar,” said Madeya.

What surprised Madeya was that Msendami had the guts to take on defenders like Peter Muduhwa. He blames the lack of game time for his delayed progression.

“I think the reason why it  took time for him to get to such levels was the lack of game time, had Highlanders given him a chance earlier, then we would be talking of a different story, not to talk of what they could have got out of him including selling him. 

“Msendami has worked very hard to get to that level but I am happy because he did not get frustrated like most brilliant players do when they are sidelined, which ends up taking them away from football,” said Madeya who has guarded goalposts at Bosso, Talen Vision and Hwange.

Madeya said when he joined Hwange in 2022, he advised coach Bongani Mafu to bring the fiery wing wizard to Hwange but Highlanders held on to the boy.