InsideSport: Where are we heading to?

By Michael Kariati | Mar. 17, 2024

The Zifa normalisation committee tells us that the tournament involving Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia, is part of our preparations for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers and then at the same time tells us that Mapeza is only there for this competition only.

THE appointment of Norman Mapeza as Zimbabwe Warriors coach only for the four - team tournament in Malawi has raised questions on whether Zimbabwe is really serious about its football goals.

The question is: Are we preparing for the World Cup with Mapeza at the four-nation tournament, then another coach will take over the team for the World Cup qualifiers themselves?

Surely, this does not make sense because if it was preparing for the World Cup, then the coach for that global assignment should have been appointed to assess his team at the March 18-26 four-team competition in Malawi.

In essence, this means the balanced squad that was selected for the Malawi trip would be discarded - immediately after the competition - in favour of a new team when the new coach comes for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

Why is Zifa operating in fits and starts when they can simply appoint a long-term coach to take the Warriors through the entire World Cup campaign.

Or if their power is limited, why can’t they just appoint a coach, who will be in charge of the Warriors up to June 30 when their term expires instead of appointing a new coach for every game or for every tournament.

Surely, the behaviour of the Zifa normalisation committee helps in destroying the future of the Warriors and in particular the team that was selected for the four-nation invitational tournament.

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This team is brimming with talent and is showing promise but needs a long-term coach to keep it together for other engagements like Afcon 2025 and World Cup 2026.

Whoever picked the team was spot on and seems to know his way around Zimbabwean football as the best players on the scene were picked for the immediate assignment in Lilongwe.

We, however, somehow detect a Mapeza hand somewhere although the FC Platinum mentor was unveiled as the new Warriors interim coach on the same day that the squad was announced.

What we are not sure of is whether the overseas based players were spoken to and confirmed their availability for the Warriors before the team itself was made public.

What we don't want to see is a repeat of the stories of the past in which players were picked when they did not have Zimbabwean passports or when they and their clubs had not been spoken to in the first place.

We know for sure that Zimbabwe has been trying to attract Macauley Bonne who is at Cambridge United, and Tawanda Masvanhise of Leicester City, but the two players have not responded positively for a long time and we remain skeptical of their commitment to the Warriors.

What is refreshing is that the selection has gone far and wide to Huddersfield Town where Zimbabwe has called Shane Maroodza and to Sheffield Wednesday where the country is giving a chance to Joey Phuthi and to Wolverhampton Wanderers where Zimbabwe has extended its hand to Tawanda Chirewa.

Returning to this squad is Andy Rinomhota of Rotherham United, Munashe Garanganga who moved to KV Mechelen from Sheriff Tiraspol as well as Tivonge Rushesha who travelled but missed the games against Rwanda and Nigeria as he did not have a Zimbabwean passport.

Add these to the regulars Marshall Munetsi, Jordan Zamura, Teenage Hadebe, Tino Kadewere, and Gerald Takwara, then one has a team they can feel confident of.

There too is the injured Marvelous Nakamba and Bill Antonio to give the Warriors a solid-all-round outfit that can challenge the best Africa has to offer.

Missing, though, is a long-term and full-time coach who can turn around the talent we have into a world class team like what the late Reinhard Fabisch did in 1994.