THE performance of the Zimbabwe men’s football national team, the Warriors in the last two World Cup qualifiers against South Africa and Ethiopia was shocking to say the least. So abject were the performances that soccer-loving Zimbabweans wondered just what was happening to their beloved team.
Yesterday soccer governing body, the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) booted out Zdravko Logarusic from his cosy position as national team coach as expected. Whatever the excuse for the shoddy performances, one cannot disguise the disorganisation and lack of any kind of coherence in the team’s play has been evident for a long while now.
We only hope that Zifa will do the right thing and appoint a competent replacement, hopefully a local one. Zimbabwe is facing a crucial tournament, the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) tournament to be hosted by Cameroon in January next year.
There is need for Zifa to bring in someone who can boost the squad’s morale if the country is to entertain any hope of going past the group stages.
But apart from the coach, several factors should be considered. The first step to regain the country’s glory is to strengthen the domestic league. A lesson should be learnt that a country cannot solely rely on its international players whose availability is often affected by many factors.
Zimbabwe blew up a big chance in the last two World Cup qualifiers by failing to field its strongest team following a decision by European clubs not to release foreign players citing COVID-19 precautions.
On top of that, local football has been dormant for a while now and Zifa simply did not consider any plan to get local players match fit.
If the country had a competitive domestic league, the coach could have simply looked internally for replacements. We have seen that working during the time of Reinhard Fabisch’s Dream Team.
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The team was dominated by domestic league players. They did wonders, beating continental giants like Egypt, Cameroon, to name a few. Zambia lost 18 utility players in an air crash in 1993 and went on assemble a new team revolving around four international players who had missed the stricken plane, but still reached the Afcon finals the following year.
Zifa should put its house in order and make sure the domestic league is competitive. This can be done by practising good governance to earn the trust of the corporate world that then can chip in and offer support.
A gesture by Kudakwashe Tagwirei’s Sakunda Holdings to sponsor the country’s biggest oldest community clubs, Dynamos and Highlanders to the tune of US$3 million is commendable and the best foot forward for Zimbabwean sport.
Well done Sakunda and we hope other private companies will emulate and support other Premier Soccer League teams. That way, the domestic league, which is in intensive care unit, can be resuscitated and feed in to the national team.
Zimbabwe is a soccer-loving country and each time the national team does not perform well, it means many people are suffering emotionally and psychologically. We need to bring back the glory times.
