YESTERDAY’S Warriors disaster in Guinea was always in the making, following revelations that players were paid their allowances late for the Egypt match and had threatened to withdraw their services for last night’s match.
REPORT BY WELLINGTON TONI
Reliable sources have informed NewsDay Sport that the players were only paid their allowances on Saturday — 24 hours before the match, while they received complimentary tickets from the national association at 10am — just a few hours before the match.
As if that was not enough, technical director Nelson Matongorere and team manager Sharif Mussa had to fork out money from their personnel pockets to buy fuel for the team to travel to training sessions at the National Sports Stadium from a local lodge.
“This explains why Peter (Ndlovu, assistant coach) and Pagels (Klaus, coach) were angry when Zifa CEO Jonathan Mashingaidze wanted to apportion blame on Matongorere.
“Players were not given complimentary tickets until 10am on match day. There was a lot of discomfort in camp that led to the heavy defeat,” sources said yesterday. Mashingaidze questioned the presence of Matongorere on the Warriors bench during the Egypt tie.
Matongorere travelled with the team to Malawi and Zambia and also sat on the bench. Matongorere and Mussa did not travel with the national team to Guinea on Saturday morning.
Usual benefactor Zifa president Cuthbert Dube is away in Brazil for the 2013 Confederations Cup where he is a member of the organising committee.
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Zimbabwe Football Trust chairman Tshinga Dube said all was in order.
“Everything has been taken care of,” he said on Friday.
NewsDay Sport then engaged Xolisani Gwesela, the new Zifa communications and media manager, on the issues raised, to no joy, referring all issues back to the technical team.
Minister of Education, Sport, Art and Culture David Coltart told this publication on Friday that he had not received any letter from the football trust requesting assistance.
But the timeline of events after the 4-2 home drubbing by Egypt reveal that this was disorder of the highest proportions.
The hosting of Egypt gobbled $234 000.
For the trip to Guinea, they needed $184 000, but they could only raise $100 000.
BancABC, a regional banking giant and sponsors of Castle Premiership clubs Dynamos, Highlanders, Black Mambas and a Super Eight competition, are reliably understood to have chipped in at the last moment with an unspecified amount of money to bail out Zifa.
MONDAY JUNE 10 — Warriors return to training after the loss to Egypt.
TUESDAY JUNE 11 — Warriors training in full swing at the National Sports Stadium, but Khama Billiat and Mathew Rusike are ruled out due to injuries. Chief striker Knowledge Musona also does not take part in the morning training session, although he is expected to travel.
WEDNESDAY JUNE 12 — At 1328hours, Zifa releases a statement that details the Warriors departure for Guinea the following day. It said the Warriors would depart on June 13 and arrive on June 14 in Conakry. The statement listed 33 people on the flight — five officials, eight technical members, 18 players and two journalists.
THURSDAY JUNE 13 — No trip. The Warriors are back in training at the Italian Sports Club late in the afternoon after only 16 tickets were secured — 12 for players and four for officials. The trip is rescheduled to Friday.
FRIDAY JUNE 14 — Pandhari Lodge asks the Warriors to leave their lodgings to make way for other parties that had booked the place as the Warriors try to organise a late training session at the NSS. Eventually, Pandhari gives them their courtesy bus which they use to go for training at 1500hrs.
There, coach Klaus Dieter Pagels, technical director Nelson Matongorere, team manager Sharif Mussa, assistants Lloyd Mutasa and Peter Ndlovu are engaged in serious discussions amid a flurry of phone calls on the trip, while the players continue their warm up on the field of play.
Zifa communications manager Xolisani Gwesela confirms late in the evening that the team would leave aboard Kenyan Airways and were expected in Conakry on Saturday night. And everybody thought things, at least, were in order at the final hour.
Indications though had been that 14 players would travel, then 12 was the number being toyed around with later until Zifa release the following statement.
“The team will leave on Kenyan Airways at 0210hrs and arrive in Nairobi at 0615hrs. They will depart Nairobi at 0845hrs and arrive in Dakar, Senegal at 1530hrs.
They will then leave the Senegalese capital at 1920hrs and arrive in Conakry at 2115hrs,” Gwesela said then. “The delegation is made up of 25 members.”
This delegation supposedly included 18 players and seven officials.
SATURDAY JUNE 15 — 0200hrs — Knowlegde Musona, Ovidy Karuru and Patson Jaure are dropped from the squad due to injuries leaving only 15 players to make the trip. Hardlife Zvirekwi then loses his passport in Senegal.
SUNDAY JUNE 16 — News from Guinea is that both Washington Arubi and Max Nyamupanedengu — both goalkeepers will be fielded during the match. Result — Read the back page!
