Let’s give Brito the benefit of doubt

BALTERMAR Brito might not have been the best coach we would have wanted for our Warriors, but we should give him the bene t of the doubt to see us through our 2026 World Cup journey.

He might have failed to pick up the much needed maximum six points which looked so easy to get against Rwanda and Nigeria but there are mitigating factors which we should also consider.

is was the rst time that Brito was meeting with all the Zimbabwean players and the team went into the two games without any warm up matches to talk about.

More importantly was the fact that some of the players -Jordan Zemura, for example- did not train with the team for the Rwanda match which he missed after arriving late for the game.

Not forgetting that Tivonge Rushesha did not take part in both games due to passport problems, which should have been sorted long back before he joined camp.

Surely, enough chances were created especially in the match against the Super Eagles and we cannot fault the coach for the opportunities, which were wasted In fact, we should not point ngers at Brito for the points dropped against Nigeria because he is not the one -in the rst placewho forced the home match to be played in a foreign land.

e environment in Rwanda

could have had a bearing on the Warriors and had this match been played at the National Sports Stadium surely the Super Eagles could have fallen.

In the close to the 10 days that the Warriors were in Rwanda, Brito formed a bond with the players and it would be cruel to break that bond when bigger challenges face the Zimbabwean team.

On that premise, it is advisable for the Zifa normalisation committee to go ahead and apply for Brito’s work permit and probably make him sign a contract that takes him up to the end of the 2026 World Cup campaign even though the committee’s mandate ends on June 31.

Surely, we cannot continue with this habit or system of changing a national team coach after every game, a system that has proved disastrous in the past.

In the 2022 World Cup and Afcon campaigns, the Warriors started o with Joey Antipas, then came Zdravko Logarusic before Norman Mapeza took over the reins.

Although we cannot go back to ask why Antipas was removed from his post, it would be in the best interest of the Warriors and Zimbabwe at large to continue and nish o with the coach who started o the campaign - in this case Brito.

e truth is that bringing in a new coach would mean starting all over again, something that would bring problems as the players try to adapt to another or new system of play.

e Warriors are now familiar with how their coach wants them to play and what remains is to improve on what they have shown so far especially when it comes to converting their chances.

is team showed a lot of promise and what is required is to keep it together with its coach and give it two or so friendly matches to

ne tune itself.

ose matches should not be with the likes of Botswana or Eswatini, but we should go for teams with names, teams such as Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Cameroon, and the Ivory Coast.

Although we dropped four very important points against Rwanda and Nigeria, the truth is that this is a group we can nish on top as long as we do the right things.

We still have four home matches against Benin, Lesotho, Rwanda and South Africa and we should strive to collect maximum points at all costs.

is means we need to use the National Sports Stadium for those matches and the authorities should move fast in terms of stadia renovations to see to it that by April all is sorted out.

African football history has it on record that teams that convincingly win all their home matches usually qualify for major tournaments and we need to make full use of our home advantage. Once again Sports minister, Kirsty Coventry is preaching that the stadium would be ready before June when World Cup quali ers resume but we have heard that before and what we need is action.

We already know how much treasury is pouring into sport and part of that should be channeled towards the National Stadium which after all is also used for athletics and other national events.

e draw for the World Cup has never been fair to us like it has done this time around and now is the time for us to sit up and be noticed and with the right approach and attitude we can do it.

For a start, we need to give Baltermar Brito, the bene t of the doubt and allow him to nish a campaign he started.

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the expected but that also means that we will not be prepared for ‘failure‘ (as surely it will one day come).

The underdog learns to fall and rise.

The eighth reason is that we will be kept humble, not conceited or complacent like the favourite! By being the underdog, we know what is important, we know full well the challenge and we do not think of ourselves too much.

That will help us more in the future. More significantly, we appreciate much more all that we do have! We will not take it all for granted but will use what we have with greater appreciation, purpose and conviction.

And lastly, just remember that God loves the underdog – in the Bible we constantly find references to the fact that, contrary to what the world may do, God rewards the weak, the least, the last.

So, we have to admit it: Being the underdog is great! Duke certainly thought so! So, there is no need for us to be upset, worried, embarrassed, afraid, nervous or apologetic.

And just remember: “If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in the dark with a mosquito.”