THE Zifa Board is expected to meet tomorrow to ratify the High Performance Committee (HPC)’s recommendation for Kalisto Pasuwa as coach of the Warriors. BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA
The HPC, a panel of experts mandated by Zifa to make recommendations on issues to do with national technical teams including its performance, met in Harare on Wednesday and resolved to recommend Pasuwa as the coach they want to lead Zimbabwean football following his success with the Young Warriors.
Pasuwa, a winner of four successive league championships with Dynamos, guided the Zimbabwe Under-23 team to the 2015 All-Africa Games in Congo-Brazzaville after booting out seasoned campaigners Cameroon 2-1 on aggregate.
The HPC, led by Zifa board member development John Phiri, also agreed that Pasuwa would double up as the head coach of the Young Warriors, but would share responsibilities with his first assistant Saul Chaminuka.
And the Zifa board is now expected to meet tomorrow to officially sanction the agreement.
Phiri said yesterday time was running out as Zimbabwe is scheduled to participate at the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) tournament in South Africa in mid-May and host Swaziland in the Under-23 African Championships qualifier the same time.
“We have submitted our recommendations to the Zifa board and what is now left is for the board to sanction the agreement.
It is the board that deals with the issues to do with contracts.
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Our job was just to recommend, so we are now waiting for the board to meet and confirm our resolutions,” Phiri said.
“Time is not on our side because there are two assignments coming soon, the Cosafa tournament and the Under-23 African Championship qualifier against Swaziland.
The confirmation has to be done before the coaches engage in these assignments. So we are expecting the Zifa board to meet on Saturday (tomorrow).”
Other members of the HPC include former Warriors coaches Gibson Homela, who is the vice-chairman and Misheck Chidzambwa, former Zifa board member Benedict Moyo and Bhekimpilo Nyoni, who is the coaches’ committee chairman, Zifa technical director Maxwell Takaendesa Jongwe, Cosmas “Tsano” Zulu, Zifa coaches manager Mike Ngore and Caps United legend Charles “Raw Meat” Sibanda.
The former Dynamos coach has already been tasked by Zifa with selecting the squad to represent the country at the Cosafa tournament in South Africa next month although that campaign will be led by Chaminuka, while he takes charge of the Swaziland encounter.
Zimbabwe will take on Swaziland in the Under-23 African Championship qualifiers in Harare, the same weekend Zimbabwe will clash against Namibia in their second match of the Cosafa Cup on May 21 in Moruleng, South Africa.
The winners of the Swaziland encounter will face South Africa in the final qualifying round with victors from that encounter sealing a ticket for the finals to be held in Senegal after original hosts, the Democratic Republic of Congo, withdrew to focus on preparations for that country’s elections.
The winners in the qualifying round match against South Africa were supposed to meet Senegal in the last qualifying round, but as hosts, Senegal are no longer participating in the qualifiers.
The top three teams at the finals in Senegal will automatically qualify for the 2016 Olympics to be held in Brazil, while the fourth-placed team will be involved in a play-off against an Asian team. Zimbabwe were also drawn to face Guinea, Malawi and Swaziland in the 2017 Afcon qualifiers.
