The Sunday Mail
Online Reporter
AS Zdravko ‘Loga’ Logarusic prepares to return to Harare Thursday afternoon with the Warriors, he is set to fly into a storm after ZIFA board member Mr Sugar Chagonda became the football association’s first executive member to demand his sacking.
Mr Chagonda, who is the ZIFA board member in charge of competitions, is in Ethiopia as head of delegation.
He was in the stadium as Loga’s men fell 1-0 to Ethiopia in a World Cup Group G qualifier on Tuesday.
The Warriors defeat did not go down well with Mr Chagonda, who then wrote to ZIFA president Felton Kamambo and fellow board members expressing his displeasure with Loga’s pathetic run of just one win in 14 games.
Mr Chagonda believes the Warriors could continue to sink should ZIFA not act fast and wield the axe on the 55-year-old Croat.
“I couldn’t wait to endure a flight beyond six hours to engage you and pour my heart out. I had to burn the midnight candle to pen this missive after a disappointing loss to the hosts.
“Admittedly, president, under your astute leadership, the ZIFA board has achieved a lot (off the pitch). I consider myself lucky to have served under your administration because you are an honest man whose love for the game remains undoubted,” wrote Chagonda.
“I know how passionate you are about the beautiful game. This is the reason why you prioritised the clearance of the ZIFA debt and freed the association from the painful yoke it had carried for years.
“It is for this reason that I feel pained when our board and your personality is subjected to unfair, unjustified criticism and ridicule from some quarters. To all this, your response has remained the same, ‘let football do the talking’.”
He outlined some of the weaknesses he observed during their tour of duty.
“Mr president, I am sorry to say, but I wish to vehemently pursue and sustain an argument from our recent board meeting that the head coach, Zdravko Logarusic, is now a liability and an albatross on our neck.
“True to your word, football has talked. Beyond the facts laid before us to the fact that the national team coach lacks basic appreciation of the game, he is too temperamental and lacks leadership skills.
“The coach does not consult other members of the technical team; that is, if he plans his workout, because I am reliably informed his training programme does not change (he has one predictable training drill) . . .
“The long and short of it, Mr president, my recommendation is to part ways with Mr Logarusic immediately.”
Mr Chagunda believes ZIFA has to pick a local coach to replace the beleaguered gaffer.
The local soccer family, he added, was losing confidence in their administration.
“We have just started mobilising resources, fundraising for the AFCON campaign, but under these dire circumstances it will be difficult, if not impossible, to get any meaningful support from stakeholders.
“The whole nation has lost confidence in both the gaffer and our administration. National confidence has plummeted to the lowest ebb under our watch. We need to rise and make decisive decisions to save our football.”
Fans across the divide have united in calling for Loga’s head and had even demanded that he be sacked after the Warriors’ poor 2021 COSAFA Cup tournament.
ZIFA have, however, stuck with their man even when it had become increasingly clear the national team’s performance was falling to new lows.
