LACK OF CONTINUITY KILLING FOOTBALL
FIVE years ago, Ngezi Platinum Stars forward, Delic Murimba, shared the 2018 COSAFA Under-20 Golden Boot with South Africa’s Lyle Foster.
The Young Warriors lost in the competition’s final to South Africa through a penalty shootout after a 1-1 stalemate in regulation time.
Murimba, who is now 23, opened the scoring for the side, but Foster levelled matters with just five minutes from full-time.
After that tournament, Foster joined French side, Monaco, and Murimba returned home to join Triangle United.
Yesterday, Foster was unveiled by Burnley, who are chasing promotion into the English Premier League. Foster’s move is said to be worth €7 million upfront, with a further €3m in additions, making him the most expensive South African footballer ever.
Before Foster’s latest move, the record was held by Steven Pienaar, who moved from Everton to Tottenham for €3.6 million.
Zambia and Leicester City hitman, Partson Daka, also took part in that COSAFA Under-20 tournament.
Daka and Foster rubbed shoulders with Murimba, but the former Hwange man never got the relevant exposure for him to be scouted.
Giant goalie, Issa Ali, who is between the sticks for the Young Warriors and won the Golden Glove, but he is currently club hunting.
It confirms that the country is not short of exceptional talent, but lacks football minds at administration level.
Murimba was voted among the 11 Castle Lager Soccer Stars of the Year after netting 13 times.
He is also the only player who scored four goals in a single match last season.
Former Young Warriors coach, Bekithemba Ndlovu said the lack of continuity has killed local football.
“If you are lacking continuity, just imagine what could have happened if we had groomed the crop which lost to South Africa in the final. We could have been having a different conversation,” said Ndlovu.
“The boys had shown so much potential and it’s unfortunate that we don’t have an effective system which monitors the growth of these players.
“Murimba won the Golden Boot award and a serious footballing nation should have seen him as a direct replacement for players like Knowledge Musona, but his talent was ignored, while South Africa and Zambia managed Foster and Daka’s situations so well.”
Ndlovu revealed that he last heard from ZIFA when they returned from the 2018 tournament.
“After the tournament, we came back home and that was the last time I heard from ZIFA,” he said.
“I think we need to emulate what other countries are doing in promoting young talent. We need to put our trust in our home-grown talent. It’s okay to fuse them with our foreign-based, but we should do more to assist local talent.”
Andrew Mbeba, Devine Mhindirira, Tatenda Tumba, Denzel Khumalo, Brendon Mpofu, Tinotenda Chiunye, Emmanuel Jalai and Mcdonald Mukanga are some of the players who were part of the 2018 Young Warriors squad.