Afcon aftermath: Keep eyes on the ball

ESTEEMED followers of the game of football, thank you for finding time for interaction.

Zimbabwe senior men team’s participation at the Africa Cup of Nations held in Gabon recently has been dominating football discourse since the team’s early elimination. The Warriors finished bottom of Group B without a single win, ending their interest in the competition at the first hurdle.

Armchair critics and legit pundits alike have come out opining on what should or could have been in the aftermath of Afcon following another agonising crashing out by our boys.

As we continue to digest issues and do a postmortem on that topical subject of national interest, there remains a lot to be said about the matter; especially as regards the way forward.

So ‘where do we go from here?’ remains the million bucks question.

As we do some soul-searching, we have to look at the bigger picture of our national game in whose interest we must all serve and work towards its development.

At this juncture it is important that we put things into their proper perspective and the broader outlook must never be lost sight of.

We lost in Gabon, yes, but we carry on with the struggle to take our national game to the next level.

We lost the battle to impress and progress at Afcon, yes, but we have to continue fighting the war to improve our game.

The warriors’ world of football did not start with our appearance at this year’s Afcon and certainly did not end with the disappointment that followed our passing participation.

Players and coaches will come and go among the Warriors, but the band has to play on so as to uphold the brand that we may eventually get to write a success story on the international front.

All the stakeholders – from the fans, the association, the technical staff, the players and the corporate world – thus, need to pull in the same direction.

We simply have to keep our shoulder to the wheel.

Nothing sweet is achieved without sweat.

Our goal, therefore, should be to score more regular appearances at the biennial showcase, as Willard Katsande, who captained the Warriors during their quest to conquer the continent during that failed African expedition rightly and correctly put it.

“Now we need to build on all the positives we picked from the past edition and work hard to qualify for 2019, then we can talk of going further. I think Zimbabwe has quality to go further in such tournaments, but we must be regulars of this tournament . . . it is good for our football and it is the only way we can compete,” Katsande told The Herald recently.

And the target is to eventually qualify for the World Cup finals for the first time ever in our history.

It is also true that we cannot be learning forever, as we have put it that Afcon 2017 was another of those seemingly infinite learning curves of ours, because time and tide wait for no man. What we learned at last year’s Chan and Cosafa as well Afcon this year should help us improve a lot as we look ahead and go forward.

The lessons drawn from those voyages should give us the comparative edge so that we become a competitive outfit at such tournaments.

That said, Afcon 2019 is already beckoning on the horizon, with the qualifiers set to begin this June; which is barely four months away from now. Zimbabwe were drawn in Group G with Democratic Republic of Congo – this year’s quarterfinalists – Congo-Brazzaville and Liberia.

The group qualifiers get to resume next year in March, September and October before concluding in November

Again, this July Zimbabwe’s Warriors will battle the Brave Warriors of Namibia in the Chan 2018 qualifiers during the weekend of 14-16 in the first leg away in Windhoek, with the return match on a week later. The winner from this Southern Africa contest will face who progresses from another qualifier between Lesotho and the Comoros to secure a berth at the finals.

To that end, our work is already cut out and we have to start now preparing in earnest for those forthcoming tournaments.

As such, our eyes must remain firmly on the ball and we must play it on and score in order to secure our target and goal of qualifying for the major finals.

When the hurt of the Afcon 2016 heartbreak is gone, we will learn to embrace and love our dear Warriors again.

Feedback:

Personally, I honestly say local soccer updates are the best for us football pundits. Keep on updating us, please. Your column is more worthwhile and useful. Your efforts should be applauded. I thank you.

Tinoda kuramba tichinzwa kubva kwamuri nenyaya dzeCastle Lager Premier Soccer League this year. I salute you. Ngazviende mberi, guys. – Dynamos fan, Terrence Mwedzi from Osborne Dam.

Zifa (are now) changing (the) subject of (the) matter to shift attention from Afcon bungling. Chiyangwa issued a threat to phone Caf that “we are sending a replacement team.” This had a negative psychological effect as it sent out a dispensability message.

With this in mind, the Warriors played in bad light of (the) administration and in an indirect “fix” mode. He (Chiyangwa) had seven months to put his house in order when the Warriors qualified for Afcon in May.

He always leaves the tying of loose ends to the 11th hour. Change your ways of doing things. – Crispen Tendai Masenhu.

It’s Game On, Play On!

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