The video below shows former Zimbabwe 2012 soccer star of the year; ex-Dynamos midfielder, Bidvest Wits, Jomo Cosmos and Zimbabwe Warriors captain, Denver Mukamba(26) playing football barefoot in the streets of Harare with young ones.

 

Soccer 24: When Denver Mukamba was crowned Soccer Star of the Year in 2012, many predicted the genesis of greater things to come for a player whose career had blossomed in a very short period of time.

The lanky midfielder would dazzle in front of the Vietnam and send the DeMbare faithful into a frenzy as he took Zimbabwean football by storm and deservedly scooped the accolade.

Even legendary former Warriors captain Peter Ndlovu was once charmed by Mukamba to the extent of suggesting that the talented forward would be better than him and be the greatest player to ever come out of Zimbabwe.

Mukamba looked to have fulfilled Ndlovu’s prediction in 2013 when he captained the Warriors in a World Cup qualifier against Egypt, at just 21 years old, and the star put his name in the history books as one of the youngest players to ever lead the national team.

Denver’s move to Bidvest Wits in South Africa was perhaps the turning point in his career, as the stint was characterised by reports of women and the brown bottle more than the footballing potential which had charmed the world.

Even South Africa football legend Jomo Sono admitted that the South African lifestyle destroyed the promising talent in Mukamba.

“It’s a shame. Denver had everything, but the lifestyle in South Africa is fast. There are many beautiful women, and I also don’t know if it is different from that of Zimbabwe,” Sono said.

“He had everything that guy, but the lifestyle in South Africa killed him,” he added.

Everything Mukamba touched at DeMbare before moving to Wits turned to gold and to say he toiled under the burden of expectation would be a white lie, indiscipline can better explain his downfall.

Put simply, Mukamba’s stint in South Africa, where he played for Wits, University of Pretoria and Jomo Cosmos, was not as rosy as many football followers predicted, but it was Mukamba’s return to DeMbare which proved to be a heartbreak for them.

His bad relationship with the then coach Lloyd Mutasa was well documented, with the player missing training sessions and making headlines for the wrong reasons.

Mutasa finally lost patience with Mukamba and gave the green light for him to move to cross-town rivals CAPS United on a six-month loan deal. The player appeared to have settled well at the Green Machine, but chaos followed up and went AWOL before returning to DeMbare.

Like a father would do for his prodigal son, Mutasa welcomed him back to the club but their relationship would be further strained as the player continued with his antics of missing training and abusing drugs, earning the ‘bad boy’ image in the process.

The Glamour Boys would eventually offload Mukamba in 2018, and very little has been said or written about him ever since.

Nevertheless, a recent video of him playing street soccer with a group of kids sums up his faltering career.

Yes, it’s not wrong for a well-known star to take time and play street football, but his situation simply exposes the whole struggles.

Upon seeing the video, which circulated on various forms of social media today, many could not come to terms with, perhaps, the biggest meltdown in the history of local football.

Denver is indeed the star that fell from the sky into the river.

Check out the heartbreaking video below:

 

A 2017 post shared by Dynamos fans suggest the former Warriors captain wasted his talent and money on beer and prostitutes, see below:

EXCLUSIVE: HOW DENVER MUKAMBA MADE MUTASA CRY
Lloyd Mutasa, the Dynamos gaffer, was enjoying a meal and a conversation far away from the madding crowd when his phone rang. The voice from the other end was frenetic as it narrated how life had stopped at a bar where Denver Mukamba, the fading star, was having an altercation with his wife and grandmother.
Mutasa is said to have dropped everything to rush to the beerhall and calm the situation. Apparently Dotcoms can exclusively reveal that Denver has not been staying at home but with a prostitute far away from his humble Highfields abode.
Mutasa is said to have almost dropped in tears at the sheer wayward behaviour of a player he regards as his star and son.
At this point in Mutasa’s career he expected everyone to fight on his corner. He had a while ago sacrificed senior players so that Denver can bloom, so that the seed could geminate again to bear fruits.
It was a heart-breaking scene as the wife and grandmother complained that he had neglected family.
Denver had done almost similar anti-social behaviours in South Africa-choosing the bottle and women ahead of all.
Mutasa had enough and so it was last Thursday that he finally lost his temper as he had a go at Mukamba after the training session for insubordination and using vulgar words to describe how the coach was giving him “useless drills.”
Mutasa is said to have told Denver that he was not Dynamos that great players have come and gone but the institution had remained to see other exciting players. He is said to have blasted the player for being ungrateful.
Denver has let down Dynamos a lot and fans, although sympathetic to him, feel maybe his days are long gone and that he will never reform even if Magaya was to pray for him.
Denver is a senior player at Dynamos but he is never the first to be at the training ground and he is always among the first to rush out of Motor Action training ground when the session is over.
Great players like Messi and Ronald still put in a lot of work despite their high profiles. Denver has disappointed.
Yesterday a member of the executive told us that he apologised and Mutasa being as humble as he is-is said to have forgiven.
We watch how this boy repays such unlimited love that he does not deserve.

Mukamba was crowned soccer star in 2012 when he was just 19