Benedict Moyo’s masterplan

would take the team to the 2012 Nations Cup finals, four months ago but his masterplan for the senior national team remained trapped in the corridors of the national football controlling body.
The Warriors clash against Mali in a key 2012 Nations Cup qualifier in
Bamako today, knowing that a defeat would probably swing a fatal blow, in their bid to qualify for the tournament.
Moyo wanted the Warriors to have a strong and knowledgeable technical back-up team, to help the national side’s coaching staff, and warned that without such a set-up, it was unlikely that the country’s favourite team would succeed in its quest to make the 2012 Nations Cup finals.
According to Moyo’s roadmap, which was adopted but not implemented by the Zifa board, the Warriors needed to win all their remaining four group matches against Mali (away), Mali (home), Liberia (home) and Cape Verde (away), to be absolutely certain of qualifying.
Moyo, who is the Zifa board member in charge of competitions, unveiled his masterplan on October 25 last year and it targeted a revival by the Warriors, who had dropped four points by then in the qualifiers, which would see them either winning all their remaining games or three of four of those matches.
He argued that the Warriors should have won in Liberia, given their better ranking on the Fifa table, and they also blew a glorious chance to beg maximum points at home against Cape Verde because of boardroom turmoil triggered by the wrangles related to the identity of the national team’s coach.
“Zimbabwe has lost four points from a technical point of view,” said Moyo in his roadmap. “The Warriors should have bagged maximum points in Liberiabe cause of the football status of that country. In terms of Fifa rankings they are the lowest ranked (team) in our group.
“In terms of their preparations, they only had the financial muscle and lacked the technical football organisation.
“The Warriors also had a glorious opportunity to bag maximum points against Cape Verde but the events that preceded the game cost us. Zimbabwe had all the necessary arsenal to annihilate Cape Verde but we failed to put the arsenal to effective and efficient use through boardroom problems.
“The board must take the blame squarely on its shoulders. As a board, we messed up.”
Moyo also looked into the future, which begins today with the date against Liberia.
“We have lost four points to date. We need to win in Cape Verde so that they would have lost five points,” said Moyo in his masterplan.
“If Cape Verde wins all their other games, the Warriors then have to win all our four remaining games so as to be 100 percent sure that we qualify. We will have amassed 14 points. The above scenario is the only 100 percent guarantee qualifying theory at the moment.
“If the Warriors draw in Mali, win at home against Mali, win in Cape Verde and win at home against Liberia, then we will end up with 12 points and should Cape Verde drop points somewhere, then we will end up on top of the group. If Cape Verde do not drop points, then they will 13 points but our 12 points could be enough to qualify as second best qualifier.”
Moyo unveiled a number of recommendations then to try and revive the Warriors.
“The board must come up with strategies and plans on how to achieve the above positions,” he said. “It is useless to have a strong or weak technical team but without a highly knowledgeable technical back-up team.
“We can pour all our material resources but if that strong back-up background is missing in the radar, then we are almost assured of failure.
“The Warriors, with a professional technical team, strong back-up services team, resources and logistics can qualify for the AFCON.
“Let’s be united for our country and for the good of the game.”
Moyo proposed that the technical committee be made up of technocrats.
“This will be along the Zifa and Caf technical committee guidelines. This arm is very crucial in that it is going to be the one doing the assessments for us in terms of our national teams and clubs’ international assignment performances.
“This technical committee will not run parallel with the development technical committee. The two will have totally different roles.”
He maintained that his commitment to retain certain standards, in terms of qualifications, when it came to the appointments of coaches to the national teams were not driven by a personal crusade but by guidelines from Zifa.
“In 1996 at a council meeting a resolution was passed that only qualified coaches, just like referees, would handle our teams from schools to national teams. Levels of qualifications for different competitions running were set and agreed in consultations with ZSCA (Zimbabwe Soccer Coaches’ Association),” said Moyo.
“Those resolutions were passed but not implemented for football political reasons. This is where we started losing the play of excellence.
“I was invited to a ZSCA executive meeting of 24/10/10and the standards
maintenance issue was raised again. The meeting felt that as Zifa we were not living to standards.
“They produced a circular of 16/04/09addressed to all affiliates with the subject being minimum qualification standards. This circular is supported because ZSCA were consulted on it by the then board etc.
“Therefore if the affected constituency (ZSCA) is pushing and supporting that standard, why should people who do not belong to that constituency be against it? It actually makes life easier for us.”
Moyo believed then that Zimbabwe’s battle for the 2012 Nations Cup finals could still be revived.
“Our last Afcon match was a total fiasco but I believe we can come up (stronger) now that we were. We still have a chance of qualifying if we put our house in order,” he wrote.
“Looking at the current result statistics, we can do it and technically we have a workable and achievable plan.
“We have had a long hour on it and we believe it shall be achieved (technical plan is already drawn up and available).”