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GO overseas or fish from the local pond for the vacant Warriors coach position, is the question that football fans, analysts and the media are asking as potential replacements for departed senior national team gaffer Sunday Chidzambwa make a beeline for the hottest job in local football.
Information filtering into sports desks of various newspapers is that big names are already jostling to replace Chidzambwa — the man who turned public enemy number one after a disastrous Africa Cup of Nations campaign.
Whispers doing the rounds are that Zifa is reportedly interested in hiring a foreigner.
Chidzambwa left his post last week ahead of the team’s African Nations Championship (Chan) qualifier against Mauritius, having presided over the senior national football team’s poor show at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, where they were eliminated in the first round with a single point and a single goal to their name.
The Chan squad is headed by interim coach Rahman Gumbo, who was promoted after Chidzambwa’s resignation.
While the association has reportedly identified two Europeans and one South African, who is coaching a top league side in that country to replace Chidzambwa, questions are still being asked whether the country’s flagship soccer team needs a foreigner.
The general feeling is that the Warriors need a gaffer that will be independent as local coaches are seen as compromised individuals when it comes to team selection.
However, there is a need to do a thorough assessment of what is good for Zimbabwean football before settling for the man who will lead the Warriors technical bench.
Eyeing a “big hitter” from overseas to take the team to the World Cup and other important tournaments will prove to be too pricey for the ever clumsy Zifa.
The football motherbody is not clean after all, it has its fair share of flak when it comes to meeting its own end of the deal in contracts with coaches.
We should not forget how Zifa bundled in the past and failed to pay a foreign coach José Claudinei Georgini, better known as, Valinhos, and the country was banned from taking part in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
History should shape the future but our own Zifa seems to never learn from its mistakes.
It is no wonder that football legend former Dynamos midfield general David Mandigora has warned that Zifa should not be too ambitious but work within their financial capacity.
The recent Afcon finals, where the association had issues with players over payments, showed that Zifa don’t have the financial muscle to meet the requirements of a foreign coach.
It cannot be over emphasised that getting our priorities right is all that is needed as gambling will only be followed with headlines of derision.
The future of our football cannot be risked all in the name of trying to match other African nations that hire foreign coaches, pay them on time and win trophies.
Zifa must fish from the local pond. We have too many talented coaches that can take the Warriors far if given the right resources and supported unreservedly.
Online Reporter