The Sunday Mail
Makomborero Mutimukulu Sports Editor
WARRIORS coach Kallisto Pasuwa has defended his modus operandi, insisting he will continue with a selection policy that some have dismissed as biased, as long as it continues to produce results. Speaking for the first time since a tsunami erupted over the way he chooses national team players, Pasuwa said he won’t be forced into fixing what is not broken.
“Well if the biased team selection has taken us to Afcon, took us to CHAN, took our Under-23 to the African Games then I am happy to continue with that,” he said.
“I am mandated to coach this team and produce results and my bosses are happy with what I have done and what I am doing.
“The nation at large is happy and celebrating and I am happy too about the progress this team continues to make.”
One issue that has dominated debate is the continued exclusion of impressive FC Platinum goalkeeper Petros Mhari.
Mhari has had to watch from a distance while How Mine goalie Donovan Bernard and his Ngezi Platinum counterpart Nelson
Chadya continue to get call ups despite struggling to hold down first team places at their respective clubs.
Warriors number one Tatenda Mukuruva has also been inconsistent of late, struggling with aerial balls and distribution.
Mukuruva’s iffy performances have led some pundits into opining that the Dynamos man is slackening due to a lack of serious competition at the national team.
Pasuwa refused to be drawn into commenting on why he has continually overlooked Mhari.
“As coach, I don’t publicly discuss individual players, why they are in the squad or why they are not.
“What I know is that with the national team, the door is always open as long as you are Zimbabwean. “Petros Mhari is not the only player whose fans wish he was in the national team,” he said.
With the Afcon 2017 on the horizon, concern has also been raised in some circles over the composition of Pasuwa’s backroom staff.
Sunday “Mhofu” Chidzambwa, the first coach to lead Zimbabwe to the Afcon table, told Star FM last week that Pasuwa needs to recruit someone with Afcon experience ahead of the trip to Gabon.
“Kallisto is a very good coach, he is doing well but the only advice I can give him is I think he must involve someone who has been there before because he has never been there.
“Even if it’s a player who is now coaching, he must rope him into the technical team and take it from there,” said Chidzambwa who immediately ruled himself out of the equation saying, “I am too old to do that.”
Pasuwa seems rather unimpressed with Chidzambwa going public with his advice.
“I did not hear what Sunday said but I am sure if Mhofu has something to tell me he will get in touch and likewise I also talk to him since he was my mentor,” said the Warriors gaffer.
Amid growing speculation linking him with a possible return to Dynamos and a sojourn to Tanzania among other moves, Pasuwa reiterated that his eyes are firmly on the Warriors.
“Each time Dynamos lose, some people speculate about Pasuwa going back to the club but I have said several times before and I will say it again that I am contracted to Zifa and my focus is on my Warriors job.
“Some said I was going to Malawi but here I am. Some said I was going to a club in Tanzania but here I am.
“I am more concerned with the Warriors’ preparations which need to be adequate so that we compete favourably in Gabon and make Zimbabweans happy,” he said.
The Afcon draw goes down on October 19, is there any team you are praying to avoid?
“We are one of 16 teams in the tournament so we should be ready to face anyone. We didn’t qualify to go and avoid any teams,” said Pasuwa.
