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Chivero blasts Zifa for Warriors loss

Sport
FORMER Under-20 manager Eddie Chivero has come out guns blazing against Zifa, blaming the national football governing body for the Warriors’ 2-0 loss to Angola on Sunday

FORMER Under-20 manager Eddie Chivero has come out guns blazing against Zifa, blaming the national football governing body for the Warriors’ 2-0 loss to Angola on Sunday, which saw Zimbabwe bow out of the South Africa 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

 BY SPORTS REPORTER

Chivero, who is also a member of the Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters’ Association, said Warriors head coach Rahman Gumbo was arm-twisted by his bosses into including players that were pardoned from the Asiagate scandal into the squad that travelled to Angola, yet the gaffer would have done well with the team that won the first leg 3-1 on September 9.

“We cannot blame Rahman (Gumbo) on this one. How do you seriously expect a coach to come up with a winning team with 30 players in camp for a limited period of one week? He was left with no choice, but to include those players that were clandestinely cleared from Asiagate, so as to please his bosses.

“I salute Rahman because he won the first leg at Rufaro without Zifa’s interference. Zifa thought they had found a way of clearing their bad image by winning in Angola, which proved disastrous,” Chivero said.

He said the football governing body was bent on dealing with petty issues instead of concentrating on important ones, saying some members of the supporters’ association, Eddie “Mboma” Nyatanga, Wellington Mpandare, Fortune Boni, Paddington Japajapa and other supporters were barred, together with him, from travelling to Angola.

“As the supporters’ union, we are disappointed and we are saying the whole Zifa board should just pack their bags and leave office, as they have failed us as a country. Let’s not blame the technical team, but Zifa for placing their priorities wrong because they were sensing possible success with the victory in Angola,” Chivero said.

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