THE second batch of Warriors arrived in the country yesterday following early elimination at the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) tournament in Cameroon.
The Warriors finished bottom of Group B with three points following two defeats at the hands of Senegal (1-0) and Malawi (2-1) and a 2-1 victory over Guinea in their last match.
Zimbabwe’s win against Guinea was their third at the Afcon and first since the 2-1 victory over Ghana in Egypt in 2006. Their only other victory came in their maiden appearance in Tunisia when they beat Algeria 2-1 in 2004.
Similarly for the Warriors, it’s now the fifth time that they have failed to reach the knockout stage of the Afcon tournament after all their four appearances ended in group stages. Zimbabwe made their Afcon debut in 2004 under Sunday Chidzambwa.
And Norman Mapeza became the fourth Zimbabwean coach to fail to steer the Warriors to the knockout stage of the tournament following unsuccessful stints by Chidzambwa in 2004 and 2019 while Charles Mhlauri and Callisto Pasuwa also failed at the 2006 and 2017 editions respectively.
The latest failure by the Warriors should, however, not be taken lightly as it reflects the state of the country’s most popular sport.
While criticism has been focused on the coaches the truth of the matter will reveal that the problem is bigger than them.
The country’s football has been going down for a long time now while shielded by Afcon qualification. But there is nowhere to hide and unless necessary measures are taken there will be no soccer to talk about very soon.
And it’s simple. The country needs to start investing in the junior structures. There is a need for a developmental plan to ensure the resurrection of the age groups such as the Under-17, 20 and 23.
Full-time coaches who work with the junior teams under the supervision of the national coach must be employed.
The coaches should have enough time to visit teams and conduct coaching clinics and they should cover every corner of Zimbabwe.
Schools should also take sports and football in particular seriously. All the benefactors who offer houses and money to the Warriors should start with the junior structures. Let this money go to the kids.
We can’t build a house without a foundation and our foundation is the schools, the junior teams, and the academies. These should be monitored to ensure that the proper football curriculum is being followed.
The young players who are 17, 18, 20 and 23 should come through the junior teams. We need the junior structures to be vibrant. Once we have these up and running, it will be easy to utilise our best talents.
