WARRIORS coach Ian Gorowa yesterday said the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) have offered him a long-term contract that includes taking charge of the team during the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers, but is yet to sign on the dotted line.
SIMBA RUSHWAYA GROUP SPORTS EDITOR
But a Zifa board member poured cold water on the claim saying the former Black Rhinos and Dynamos forceful forward has instead been “offered a performance-based contract”, meaning the former South Africa-based gaffer could be on a stay of execution.
Gorowa will have an unnerving task this Saturday when he takes on the lion in its den – Zambia – in the 2014 African Nations Championships (Chan) final round, second leg in Ndola. The two teams drew 0-0 in the first leg at Rufaro Stadium last Sunday and the Warriors need nothing short of a scoring draw to book a ticket to South Africa.
There have been fears that Gorowa might be shown the exit if he fails to take Zimbabwe to the Chan finals in South Africa after the football governing body changed coaches like nappies in the past three years.
“To be honest they (Zifa) have been nice to me. I have a long-term deal on the table that says I can coach the team until 2015, but I’m the one who has been dragging my feet. I’m taking my time to go through the contract before I commit.
The ball is in my court,” Gorowa assured. Zifa chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze said: “This is a matter between us and our employee. We cannot discuss our employees’ contracts with the media. This is a confidential matter and we will try to keep it that way.”
But it remains to be seen if the bankrupt football governing body has changed its spots after periodically changing coaches since 2010.
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The current Zifa first board appointed Norman Mapeza interim coach for the senior team in May 2010, but three months down the line Zifa saw it fit to thrust Belgian Tom Saintfiet into the hot seat as substantive coach — albeit in a botched-up operation because Saintfiet would leave the country in a huff after working without requisite papers from immigration.
That was the end for the Belgian paving way for a comical choice when Zifa appointed Mapeza and Madinda Ndlovu to be co-coaches in the 2012 Afcon match against Cape Verdé Islands.
The recipe proved disastrous as the Warriors were held 0-0 by their unfashionable opponents. Ndlovu would assume the reins of the team on a caretaker basis and go on to guide the Warriors at the Chan in Sudan in February 2011. The Bosso and Warriors legend got the sack after the tournament.
Zifa president Cuthbert Dube would unilaterally reappoint Mapeza to the throne in March that year, but once again suspended the former Galatasaray kingpin after he was found guilty in the Asiagate match-fixing scandal.
Four months down the line Rahman Gumbo would win the Warriors jackpot, but was fired after dismal performance in the 2014 World Cup campaign paving way for German Klaus-Dieter Pagels to ascend to the same position in November last year. Pagels left the post after the Cosafa Castle Senior Challenge and Gorowa took over the reins.
