QUALIFYING for the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) is supposed to be the holy grail of continental football and after 10 years without Zimbabwe participating, one would expect the country’s football governing body, Zifa, to be pulling out all the stops to ensure the national team does well.
Comment: NewsDay Editor
But strangely, it seems the qualification is a yoke that Zifa are treating more like an inconvenience with inept preparations and failure to get the basics right.
The preparations for Afcon have been abysmal to say the least, starting with that pointless trip to the Ivory Coast and now the camping arrangements.
It does not make sense that Zifa failed to pay $60 for the Warriors to train at the National Sports Stadium. If they cannot pay such little money, then what is the point of having the football governing body?
Then Zifa also have the temerity to put up the Warriors in sub-standard facilities, yet they expect the team to do well in Gabon. What cheek!
Last time out, the Mighty Warriors were treated with disdain and this is now being extended to the men’s team.
If such shoddiness is taken to Gabon, then Zimbabwe can as well prepare for an embarrassment, as there is no way the Warriors can do well without adequate preparations, as the adage says: “Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.”
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For all this mess, the buck stops with Zifa and its president, Philip Chiyangwa, who, for all his smooth talk, is yet to deliver much on the administrative side of the game.
The Mighty Warriors were victims of his poor administration, both at the Olympics and at the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations, and now the Warriors have to bear the brunt of his leadership shortcomings.
Chiyangwa gave himself a 10 out of 10 for his first year at the helm of Zifa, but the latest episode with the Warriors surely deserves a mark of no more than zero out of 10.
However, it is not too late to salvage something and Chiyangwa and his team have to roll up their sleeves and get some work done.
From now on, there is need to ensure a smooth flow from when the final squad is announced right up to when the Warriors play their last game, lest Zimbabwe becomes an embarrassment on the global scene.
The country is already a laughing stock in many regards and there is no need to extend this to sport.
Zifa had a very long time to plan for the Afcon finals and there is no excuse for such clumsy and tactless preparations at the 11th hour.
