The Sunday Mail
Sir 18area.coms
I GET worried, very worried, when Sunday “Mhofu” Chidzambwa heads for the Cosafa Castle Cup loudly declaring that he wants to win the regional tournament.
Knowing the man I can prophecy that there won’t be much flair in the way the Warriors will go about business in South Africa.
Can Sir go deeper?
Chidzambwa is one guy who believes in winning, at all costs and if it means sacrificing artistry for artisanship then so be it.
The interim Warriors gaffer believes in a defence first approach, he would rather win 1-0 than edge it 2-1 courtesy of a late, late winner.
Don’t get me wrong.
Yours Truly loves winning everything – including a pillow fight with hubby – but tournaments such as the Cosafa Cup are not the real deal.
These are platforms we should be using to develop our budding stars.
It is at this tournament that the Premiership’s leading goal scorer Bukhosi Sibanda ought to be getting his first taste of international football.
But alas Chidzambwa dropped the Bantu Rovers man and gave the nod to Blessing Majarira, a man who earns his keep at Northern Region Division One side Herentals.
At first glance axing the top flight scorer for a guy who plays Division One football doesn’t make sense.
However, when its mentioned that this is Chidzambwa, a gaffer who believes in tall imposing strikers, who made the call it will take a whole new meaning.
Chidzambwa has previously said he doesn’t want anything to do with the Warriors because he is too old but you and I know that we both know that we know that the ZPC Kariba gaffer loves this job.
He loves it just like Norman Mapeza, just like Joey Antipas, just like Luke Masomere, just like ….
Every coach would jump at the chance of taking charge of the Warriors but we have a sad case where Zifa takes advantage of this fact to make weird decisions.
Zimbabwe has a national team coach for every tournament – Mapeza taking care of Afcon, Mhofu doing the Cosafa and Rahman Gumbo being in charge of the African Nations Championships campaign.
And when Phillip Chiyangwa and his board make such Mickey Mouse and justify such tomfoolery as financial engineering meant to save money then you will appreciate that we are light years away from taking football seriously.
A full time national team coach is a must, even poor associations like the Football Association of Malawi are aware of that.
A national team should do more than take charge of the senior team.
He – or she – has to develop a playing style for the country, scout the country for the brightest young talent and act as the junior teams’ technical adviser.
Imagine the confusion that players like George Chigova and Ovidy Karuru find themselves in right now working with Chidzambwa soon after being in camp with Mapeza.
The two coaches are cut from different material and have different philosophies.
Yes in the pub and those places where you have “gango” I know you guys argue that football is the same – 11 players each side battling to outscore each other.
But nothing can be further from the truth.
If that football is the same mantra is true the players who featured against Liberia would not have gone public with their “Norman Mapeza anotaura bhora” comments.
If Mapeza talks football, excuse the English, then who does not?
Kallisto Pasuwa?
One thing that Zifa’s decision to have three interim Warriors coaches has done is create a situation whereby each coach feels winning will do their chances of landing the national team job a world of good.
Such state of affairs makes Chidzambwa want to win the Cosafa tournament at all costs.
If Mapeza is irreplaceable like Chiyangwa said after our smacking of Liberia why hasn’t the former Galatassary coach been given the job full time?
Presently we are living in our own cocoon, believing that we are as good as any football nation because Aces Youth Academy and Bantu are developing our national team players.
But elsewhere nothing tangible is happening.
When our champions get walloped 4-2 by a team from war-torn Libya for the second game on the bounce we should not make Makepekepe the butt of all jokes without trying to explore what that means to our game.
Sir exits the scene!
Sir is a social media commentator and can be contacted on [email protected].
