Zifa gives Gorowa deadline

Sport
THE Zifa high performance technical committee has given Warriors coach Ian Gorowa (pictured) an ultimatum following his failure to submit a report on the failed Warriors’ 2015 African Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifying campaign

THE Zifa high performance technical committee has given Warriors coach Ian Gorowa (pictured) an ultimatum following his failure to submit a report on the failed Warriors’ 2015 African Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifying campaign describing it as “constituting underperformance”, which effectively signalled the end of the relationship between the two parties.

TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA SPORTS CORRESPONDENT The committee which met on Wednesday in Harare resolved to give Gorowa until Friday next week, July 4, to submit the report.

“To us his failure to present the report constitutes underperformance and to some extent insubordination,” the committee’s vice-chairperson Gibson Homela said.

“We have been expecting reports from all national teams including the juniors and women’s football, but we didn’t have the report of the senior national team which rendered our review useless.

“We then resolved to write a letter demanding that he submit the report by July 4. In the event that he fails to comply, we will then sit down and make a decision on the matter,” he said.

Gorowa was not picking up his phone yesterday, despite telling this publication on Wednesday that he would be available for comment.

Apart from the Warriors’ failure to progress in the 2015 Afcon qualifiers, Gorowa’s report was expected to touch on the African Nations Championship (Chan) tournament, the qualifiers preceding the tournament and the friendly matches played since last year.

The Warriors suffered a shock 2-3 defeat on aggregate to Tanzania after they went down 0-1 in Dar es Salaam in the first leg, before being held to a disappointing 2-2 draw in the reverse encounter at the National Sports Stadium.

The Warriors had been expected to beat the Taifa Stars and progress to the next round where they were scheduled to meet neighbours Mozambique for the right to play in the group stages in Group E comprising 2012 African champions Zambia, the Cape Verde and Niger.

However, that defeat means Zimbabwe will now have to wait for the next two years to participate in a major tournament.

Zifa technical director Maxwell Takaendesa Jongwe, appointed recently to that post, is one of the members of the committee with John Phiri, also a Zifa board member for development chairing the committee which includes Misheck Chidzambwa, Cosmas “Tsano” Zulu, Charles “Raw Meat” Sibanda, Caf referees’ instructor Wilfred Mukuna and junior soccer coach Bheki Nyoni.

The committee had been scheduled to meet two weeks ago, but was postponed as some of the Zifa bosses were in Brazil for the Fifa congress.

Gorowa has presided over 13 competitive matches since taking over from German coach Klaus-Dieter Pagels managing four wins, six draws and three losses.