Welcome to Zim, Loga
Imag es of former Warriors coach Kalisto Pasuwa wrapped in a blanket as he boarded a hired bus enroute to a 2017 Afcon qualifier in Malawi remains one of the most iconic pictures of recent Warriors campaigns. In some quarters, it’s a symbol of scorn and ridicule — how a whole nation could fail to pool enough resources together to fly our national team to Blantyre. In others, it’s a symbol of defiance - a commander and his warriors overlooking their personal discomfort to carry out their mission and register a 2-1 win over the Flames of Malawi, despite the odds that were stacked against them. Whichever side of the divide you fall, the one thing we can all agree on is that it was certainly not the best way to do things.
This past weekend, Zimbabwe took on Malawi in a friendly match at the Mpira Stadium in what was Croat, Zdravko Logarusic’s first assignment at the helm of the Warriors. The match ended in a drab goalless draw with our chaotic display a reflection of the chaotic preparations that characterized the build-up to the match. Those that made the effort to stream the match on Facebook, were left, at best bemused, and at worst disillusioned by the Warriors insipid display. From a tactical and performance point of view, pundits and fans alike will be viewing the upcoming back-to-back Afcon qualifiers versus African Champions Algeria, with trepidation.
Logarusic will point to the shambolic preparations for the match — and he is right. No local football meant that the pool for selection shrunk drastically with consideration given mostly to those plying their trade in leagues that had resumed action post the Covid-19 shutdown. As if that was not bad enough, Zifa had no substantive national team manager in place, leaving many asking the question; with Logarusic having spent his lockdown holed up in Europe, who was keeping track and monitoring players? An even more uncomfortable question, but one that needs answering is; who selected the squad that was announced?
We all chuckled as the portly Xolisani Gwesela, the association’s media and communications manager added yet another job to his growing list of assignments, when he took his place in the dugout at the Mpira Stadium as team manager. The man may be multi-talented but to also serve as head of competitions, chairman of the first instance board, as well as part-time stadium announcer brings into question the recruitment policy and inadequate staffing at 53 Livingstone Avenue. But that’s a story for another day.
Zifa has always been the poster-boy for disorganization in Zimbabwe sport, but the current administration led by Felton Kamambo seem to be digging the nation’s favourite pastime into an even deeper hole.
The friendly against Malawi seemed to be hastily contrived, designed to save face than to give Logarusic the opportunity to run a studious eye over potential charges for the more meaningful national assignments to come. FIFA dates are published with ample time to allow for sound planning and the timeous call-up of players from their respective bases. But in keeping with what is now the norm, Zifa sent letters of invitation late and in some cases to the wrong clubs, and with no manager in place at the time, no follow-up was probably made as to the availability or condition of the players. The sight of a stocky, if not overweight, Tafadzwa Rusike limbering up before kick-off, only served to confirm our fears.
Contrast our preparations with our next opponents Algeria, who we face in a few weeks at the National Sports Stadium. The Desert Foxes took on continental heavyweights Nigeria before putting their 20-match unbeaten run on the line against the might of Mexico and coming out unscathed — a proper challenge for a team that realises the gravity of the task at hand. While Malawi are no push-overs, the friendly left Logarusic none the wiser as to who is who in the zoo. His post-match confession that he wasn’t going to use more than three of the players that featured, must’ve created a measure of discomfort within the squad as there were at least five Warriors who represented Zimbabwe at the last Afcon finals in Egypt barely a year ago.
Malawi themselves didn’t take us seriously. Once they heard that we had called up a fringe squad, they returned the favour and the result was the dull and uninspiring show we witnessed. The Warriors played with no structure defensively or offensively and many questioned how the centreback pairing of Teenage Hadebe and Alec Mudimu was put under so much pressure, to the point where the Flames could easily have scored three — and that’s a conservative estimate.
While Logarusic can point an accusing finger at Zifa for the disorganisation off the field of play, on it, the buck stops with him. Zimbabwe football fans are an impatient lot and will not suffer too many performances of that nature before the rumblings of discontent become an avalanche of criticism and abuse. They will demand better and expect their favourite team to play with courage and mental fortitude.
The problems at Zifa will never go away — successive administrations have taught us that — the more things change, the more they remain the same. Logarusic will have to learn that quickly, if he didn’t know already — and with the threat of Riyad Mahrez and Partson Daka on the horizon, he certainly has his work cut out.