THE Warriors were finally expected to leave for Guinea early this morning — 2am — 24 hours before their 2014 World Cup football qualifier after a series of mishaps prevented their scheduled departure on Thursday. Report by Wellington Toni
Zifa communications manager Xolisani Gwesela confirmed the team would leave aboard Kenyan Airways and were expected in Conakry tonight. This means there will be no time to feel the match venue ahead of the game and fatigue is likely to play a huge factor in the Warriors’ plans.
“The team will leave on Kenyan Airways at 2:00am 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. He added: “The delegation is made up of 25 members.”
Yesterday, the Warriors held another training session in the afternoon at the National Sports Stadium under the watchful eyes of coach Klaus Dieter Pagels and his assistants Lloyd Mutasa, Peter Ndlovu and Nkululeko Dlamini with the players seemingly unperturbed by the uncertainty surrounding the trip.
Team manager Sharrif Mussa was also in attendance, but together with technical director Nelson Matongorere, will not make the trip. Pagels will travel with 18 players plus assistants Mutasa and Ndlovu, team physio Farai Maguwu, stand-in team manager Patrick Mutesva, Paradzai Manjonjo and head of delegation Benedict Moyo.
Zifa security officer Lovemore Marange is already in Conakry.
Earlier in the day, Ndlovu had told NewsDay Sport: “You can see how things have been happening; you cannot expect much, but sometimes you just have to defy the odds. We will try.”
Zimbabwe Football Trust chairman Tshinga Dube, whose organisation has been running around trying to raise funds for the trip after securing only 16 tickets on Thursday, described the situation as unfortunate.
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Dube’s organisation has been trying to raise $1 million for last week’s match against Egypt and the trip to Guinea, but have received very little support from the corporate sector and the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture. Zifa have also not revealed how much was obtained from last Sunday’s match against Egypt at the National Sports Stadium.
“Travelling this late is very problematic and temperatures in that country are well over 30 degrees and it will be difficult for the boys to adjust. But we have to fulfil the match and avoid being punished.
“It has been very difficult for us as well as we have been squeezed with trips to Malawi and Zambia and catering for the Egyptians when they came here within a short space of time.
“We even tried to raise money from that match (Egypt) under the Dollar for Football, but we could only raise $200 and R200. It shows that people are very reluctant to give money.
“We even appealed to the ministry to be the guarantor for us so that we get $1 million, but we have not even received a response. They (ministry) said they needed more information from us and we provided it, but still there is no response,” Dube said.
He added: “The teams that are doing well are those that are financially supported. I am sure the boys are disappointed. It’s like sending them to slaughter because the other team (Guinea) has probably put in much preparation for the match because they want to qualify for the World Cup.
“Our boys are ill-prepared and would be cannon fodder without much chance there.”
Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture David Coltart, however, said he had not received any letter from Zifa. “I was in my office until 4pm yesterday (Thursday) and I did not get anything, so I am not aware. I last heard from them before the team went to Egypt (in March), but since then I have not heard from them,” the minister said yesterday.
The Warriors are out of the Brazil race with one point from the campaign having drawn 0-0 with Mozambique after a 1-0 loss to Guinea at home last year. The back-to-back losses against Egypt (1-2 and 2-4) have ensured Zimbabwe remain rock bottom while the Pharaohs have 12 points from four matches.
Guinea routed Mozambique 6-1 last Sunday and are in second position with seven points and a win will take them to 10 points while Egypt will seal qualification with a victory over the Mambas as they would have an unassailable 15 points.
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