Musona hints on retirement
WARRIORS captain Knowledge Musona has said he is considering retiring from international football following Zimbabwe’s exit from the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Cameroon last week.
Musona was quoted by BBC saying he would make an announcement when the time was ripe.
He hinted that he may not add to his 51 caps. He scored Zimbabwe’s opening goal in their 2-1 win over Guinea in their last Group B match.
“I am still thinking about it,” he said. “When the time comes I will announce it.”
Once he eventually hangs up his boots, Musona is considering taking a role in the development of Zimbabwean football.
“Maybe, because I really love my country and I will do anything to help it become one of the best teams,” he said.
“We have the talent, but sometimes we don’t have the resources. When the time comes, I will be open to help my country to develop this sport.”
Coach Norman Mapeza believes Musona has already made a lasting impact in the southern African country.
“He has contributed massively to football,” he said.
“You don’t have to doubt his contribution to Zimbabwean football. To me, he is one of the legends of Zimbabwean football.”
The former Hoffenhem forward said Zimbabwe needed to put more effort into junior development for the senior team to improve its performance.
“We need to develop our grassroots football, to develop from the Under17s, Under-20s and Under-23s to prepare our national team for our next assignments,” the 31-year-old forward said.
“Some of us, maybe in a few years’ time, are going to stop and we have some guys growing up and trying to maintain the level of Zimbabwean football.
“I am really optimistic that something should be done for the development of the game.”
He revealed that ahead of the Guinea match, Mapeza told the players to go out and play without pressure.
“We are happy that we gave it our all and gave a good fight to all the opponents,” he said.
“The coach told us that we must go out there and enjoy the game because we knew already that we were out of the tournament, so we had no pressure.
“It’s also a good feeling that we ended our group matches with a win because at least we have some hope for our next games.”
With the victory against Guinea, Zimbabwe ended a winless run at Afcon, having last won at the continental showcase in 2006.
They plunge back into action in March in their bid to qualify for the 2023 edition of Afcon.
The draw for the qualifiers is yet to be conducted. Zimbabwe face a tough qualifying campaign as they will be forced to play their home matches in neighbouring countries after the Confederation of African Football imposed a ban on all local stadia for failing to meet minimum standards.
FINANCIAL services company FBC Holdings yesterday honoured its pledge to pay the Warriors and their technical team bonuses for the win against Guinea at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations finals.
The bank pledged to pay US$1 000 to each of the members of the team for every win ahead of their match against Malawi in a Group B contest in Cameroon.
Zimbabwe lost the match against Malawi which threw them out of the tournament since they had also been defeated by Senegal in their opening encounter.
They managed, however, to snatch all three points with a 2-1 win over Guinea which made them eligible for the bonuses.
Yesterday the bank paid a total of US$35 000, but only three players Gerald Takwara, Takudzwa Chimwemwe and Martin Mapisa as well as coach Norman Mapeza and team manager Wellington Mpandare were available to collect their share.
The rest of the players and support staff have returned to their bases and abroad.
FBC will deposit the money into the player’s accounts.
Takwara, who spoke on behalf of the players, expressed gratitude to the bank and urged it to support the team in its future assignments.
“On behalf of the team I want to thank the FBC, SRC [Sports and Recreation Commission] and Zifa. We are motivated, so please keep on supporting us. Keep on motivating us and supporting us ahead of the next matches. We disappointed a lot of people, but we did our best, we tried our best,” he said.
FBC chief executive officer John Mushayavanhu said his organisation was motivated to come up with a sponsorship package after the team's gallant show against Senegal.
“We decided after the Senegal game that we were going to come up with a package to incentivise the Warriors. And that package is US$1 000 each for the players and technical team. We also said we would give them houses if they brought the cup home. But football being football, things didn’t come out as we had envisaged. The Warriors didn’t come back empty handed as they beat Guinea. So we are here to honour our pledge and today we have $35 000 for the team,” he said.
He hinted that they could come up with incentives for the team in future tournaments.
SRC chairperson Gerald Mlotshwa applauded the team for its performance in Cameroon even though it failed to achieve set targets.
“We support the Warriors, we will always support them and I think I am not just talking about the SRC but the entire nation” Mlotshwa said.
“We want to maintain professional standards so that you perform the way you performed against Senegal and Guinea. The future is bright, continue to hold your heads high and don’t worry about the past, focus on the future. I commend the head coach, Mapeza, for achieving what you achieved in such a short space of time. You hardly had warm-up games, just one against Sudan, but you did well without practice matches.”
The players and officials have racked in about US$21 000 each so far and expect more once Caf disburse the prize money for the tournament.
They will share 40% of the US$550 000 Zimbabwe will get after falling in the group stages.