ZIMBABWE had a decent start at the African Nations Championships (Chan) finals that kicked off in South Africa at the weekend by earning a point in their goalless draw with Morocco in their opening group match in Cape Town on Sunday.
But the big question, of course, is whether the Warriors can progress beyond the group stage. The answer to this question is that Zimbabwe must now win at least one of their remaining two games against Uganda and Burkina Faso and then pray that results in the other group matches go their way in order for the Warriors to be placed at least second in the group.
Beating both Uganda, who now lead the group with three points after edging Burkina Faso in the second opening group match and Burkina Faso would guarantee the Warriors a place in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
Watching the match and reading the list of the Zimbabwe delegation, one question comes to mind easily; where are the technical advisors that the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) often talks about? I thought that the country had some organisation of former players, some of them even former national team coaches, that are a technical committee that assists the national team coach and his assistants in technical matters, some sort of sounding board, so to say.
The likes of Cosmas “Tsano” Zulu and Gibson Homela are part of this technical advisory committee. Benedict Moyo is the head of the technical advisory committee and the one who selected the rest of the members of the committee. Moyo is in Cape Town, but a few more of the committee being present would have been of tremendous assistance to national coach Ian Gorowa and his team.
Regrettably, the technical advisory committee members were consipicuous by their absence. Let us make use of these people and sending them on such important assignments will be both an appreciation of their skills and what they can contribute to the success of the national team as well as a way of increasing the people that Gorowa can seek advice from. Not that he has to take all the advice on board — he is free to discard some of it, but any advice is always handy at one time or another!
The Zimbabwe delegation is some 39-member strong and apparently includes a chéf, in the proper sense of the word, someone who cooks rather than a political heavyweight. But one wonders why we really needed a chéf in the delegation. There is very little dietary difference between Zimbabwe and South African cuisine, so little it does not warrant taking a cook to Cape Town — in my humble submission.
Such a member of the delegation would make sense if the tournament was being played somewhere in North or West Africa. You might wonder; why this focus on the delegation? the team that played Morocco needed, albeit in my opinion, just a little bit of tinkering and it would have won on Sunday.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
For example, the midfield needed to be more mobile while the strike force should have been less wasteful. At this level of competition, even half chances must be converted.
Therefore, if at least one of the two chances Zimbabwe created in the match had been converted the Warriors would be sitting on three points and challenging Uganda for the top spot in the group.
This is not to suggest that Gorowa is not capable enough of handling the national team on his own, but there is certainly no harm in having a couple or so people to consult or seek advice from, whether before a match or on reviewing the match. Such advice would have spared us some of the suggestions that the national team players needed conditioning in the run-up to the Chan finals.
Why conditioning when the domestic season had just ended? The time should have been spent on trying combinations rather than conditioning.
In the meantime, best of luck to the Warriors in their last two group matches against Uganda and Burkina Faso.
Highlanders are heading for their annual general meeting and club chairman Peter Dube could not have been any more succinct when he said that his executive committee will explain its decisions and actions to the members at that meeting. He also correctly said that it was not okay for members and supporters to always believe that whatever advice they offered would be taken aboard by he executive. Well said Dube!
The financial predicament that Highlanders find themselves in is not unique to the club, it is the scourge that all so-called community clubs always suffer, esepcially when the national economy is itself limping along. It is the financial woes that have seen players jumping ship to other clubs and, without the requisite finances, there is not much Dube, and Highlanders FC can do.
People that appear concerned must put their money where their mouths are, to put it crudely, and give Dube and his executive financial backing then thereafter point fingers at the executive if it failed to use the funds to improve the squad. Some people, unfortunately lots of people, are good at just talking and criticising whoever is in power! Besides that there is very little, if anything, they contribute.
Unfortunately such are the members of a community club who come to meetings sloshed and hardly listen, but always oppose whatever the executive is doing. After that, they are gone for another year without any other contribution!
It is time clubs like Highlanders and Dynamos, given their massive following, looked at how to move away from the archaic community club philosophy to more innovative up-to-date formations that guarantee them financial security.
