adminIshemunyoro Chingwere
SOME members of the National Football Association of Zimbabwe are pushing for the appointment of a technical adviser to help Warriors gaffer Kalisto Pasuwa at the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations soccer finals in Gabon, it has been established. The move has been triggered by the national team’s sterile shows at the African Nations Championship in Rwanda at the beginning of the year and more recently at the Cosafa Castle Cup in Nambia.
Despite Pasuwa transforming the senior men’s national side into an irresistible force and qualifying for the Gabon finals with a game to spare, the coach does not retain the confidence of some Nafaz committee members. The clique pushing for the appointment of a technical advisor, and the man they want is Sunday “Mhofu” Chidzambwa.
And Pasuwa has never hidden his admiration for the veteran gaffer. A source close to the football governing body said the technical advisor proposal would be formally tabled at the next Nafaz committee meeting.
“There is a serious feeling that we need somebody more experienced to help Pasuwa because what we saw at Chan and at Cosafa has us worried ahead of the 2017 Afcon finals. We know coaches are not very comfortable working with a technical advisor hence our suggestion to have a person like Mhofu coming in because the two have mutual respect for each other,” said the source.
Nafaz first vice-president Omega Sibanda said while they are working on a number of appointments for the newly-formed football association, the Warriors were yet to come up for discussion.
“As you are aware this is effectively a new organisation and we are obviously looking at making a number of appointments,” Sibanda said. “However, that technical advisor issue is yet to be discussed unless this is just a view of one or two members.
“The only discussion we have had along those lines is the appointment of a technical director for the whole association not necessarily the Warriors and I can tell you that our target for that post is Taurai Mangwiro,” he said. Chidzambwa, who led the Warriors to their first ever Afcon finals in 2004, said he is yet to be approached but was quick to add that he would never turn down a call to national duty.
“No, I haven’t been approached by anybody with such a proposal,” the ZPC Kariba coach said. “But if an offer is made I can’t say no. A national call of duty cannot be ignored, we are always ready to serve our country in any capacity whenever called to do so.”
Online Reporter