Masango speaks on Junior policy
ZIMBABWE needs to start exporting young players to Europe where they can be taught the fundamentals of football by highly qualified coaches if the country is to become a major soccer powerhouse on the continent, according to former youth international star midfielder Butler Masango.
Speaking in the aftermath of the Warriors early exit from the 2017 African Cup of Nations tournament in Gabon at the weekend, Masango, who featured prominently for the Young Warriors in the Olympic Games qualifiers in the mid1990s, also said that the country needs to invest heavily in its junior development programmes.
“My point here is that we (Zimbabwe) won’t go anywhere if we don’t put (much) emphasis on the grassroots development programmes and we need to start exporting young players to Europe now where they can be taught the fundamentals of football by highly qualified coaches so that when they come (back) to represent the nation we won’t be ashamed,” said Masango, who is now running an academy in Johannesburg, South Africa.
He played for Rufaro Rovers until 1996 when he was the captain of that side before he was loaned out to Black Aces in 1997 after Rovers got relegated from the Premiership. At Black Aces he played as an attacking midfielder and scored 14 goals which helped him land a move to Poland and after playing in the east European country for a couple of seasons, he came back to CAPS United where he reunited with his junior teammates Aarlon and goalkeeper George Mudiwa.
Masango also played for the national Under-23 team in the Olympic Games qualifiers as well as in the 1995 All-Africa Games (now African Games) which were staged here in Zimbabwe.
In the Young Warriors, Masango was coached by Polish coach Wieslaw Grabowski and then Swiss mentor Marc Duvillard who was assisted by the leg- endary Barry Daka and Brenna Msiska.
And Masango reckons that the Young Warriors team that represented the country in both the Olympic Games and the 1995 All-Africa Games, which featured the likes of Alois Bunjira, Stewart Murisa, Vusi Laher, Dumisani Mpofu, George Mbwando, Gift Muzadzi, Lloyd Jowa, Methembe Ndlovu, Alex Munawa and Edelbert Dinha, among others, was one of the best Under-23 sides ever to be assembled in the post-Independence era.
“We had a very strong Under-23 team and we competed with the best in Africa and we never conceded silly goals. Those teams would dig deep to penetrate us and it was difficult for them to outplay us and it was because we grew up playing together from a young age and we had a great understanding of each other.
“I remember (vividly) in the final Atlanta Olympic Games qualifier game against Nigeria in 1996. Nigeria had all the big names you can talk about but we held our own and lost 1-0 in the 87th minute.
“So that is why I’m advocating for ZIFA or Zimbabwe to take junior football seriously so that we start building strong junior teams from the Under-15 to Under-23 age-groups and identify gifted and talented players who can easily walk and play with each other in the senior national team,” Masango said.
He also spoke about Zimbabwe’s Gabonese adventure.
“In all the three games we conceded a goal in the first 13 minutes and that shows how poor we were defensively and technically. The (Warriors) technical team had no game-plan and there was no structure. By this I mean the team’s shape was very poor and they lost possession very cheaply and defended too deep. They left lots of spaces in the midfield which were exploited by our opponents.
“I personally think that Elisha Muroiwa and (Costa) Nhamoinhesu were not up to scratch. In fact, our back four left a lot to be desired . . . just look at the goals that we conceded throughout the tournament, it says a lot,” Masango said.