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ZIMBABWE’S flagship sporting team, the senior men’s football side, the Warriors, were back in action yesterday, this time on a fresh mission to try and qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals.
The Warriors were playing Kenya in the first of the Group J marathon of the qualifiers in Kampala, Uganda.
They will also host Cameroon in Uganda on Tuesday as this country currently does not have a stadium that is certified fit by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
The games will come thick and fast as there will also be a round of qualifiers next month and in November.
One striking feature about the Warriors 2025 AFCON qualifiers is that for the first time since 2021, Zimbabwe will be under the guidance of a substantive coach.
This comes after the ZIFA Normalisation Committee finally settled for German gaffer Michael Nees and handed the 57-year-old expatriate a two-year initial contract.
Another expatriate, Zdravko Logarusic of Croatia had been the last coach to take charge of the Warriors on a substantive basis.
After Logarusic was dismissed, which also coincided with some boardroom upheaval at ZIFA, what followed was a string of interim coaches starting with Norman Mapeza before the likes of Sunday Chidzambwa, Baltemar Brito and Jairos Tapera were also engaged to preside over the Warriors dressing room.
Those stop-gap measures not only left players confused but did not inspire any confidence in the Warriors brand and resultantly the national team struggled to attract any corporate partners.
There was also lack of continuity as each coach brought with him his band of players, albeit on a temporary basis, which also meant that combinations that are a hallmark for the success of any team, were absent in most of the Warriors’ games during those interim periods.
Securing a coach on a substantive basis and whose perks ZIFA also do not have to worry about for the next two years, is a milestone for an association with a chequered history of not paying coaches all their dues.
World football governing body FIFA are taking care of the national coach’s perks on behalf of ZIFA.
FIFA also assisted in the hunt for the coach until ZIFA settled for Nees from their final shortlist of five.
As reported elsewhere in this publication, Nees began his tenure with a 0-0 draw in Kampala yesterday.
Naturally fans would have expected a winning start for the Warriors in the AFCON qualifiers and for the new coach in his adventure with Zimbabwe.
We, however, call upon ZIFA as an association and the entire Zimbabwe football fraternity to give Nees and his backroom staff and players all the support they will need, for the Warriors to be competitive.
This would need the ZIFA administration, especially those working at the secretariat, to be always proactive in planning and providing all the necessary support, which the coach and his players will need for camping, travelling to and from matches and training.
As Nees outlined when he was unveiled as national coach, association football differs from club football and with international assignments, there is very little time to be with the players.
FIFA provides a five-day window for international assignments, during which players must fly from their bases to camp and, also play the game during that window.
The coach should be left to focus on tactics and plotting the downfall of opponents in those few days and not to worry about where to train, late arrivals of players and other administrative issues that could derail camp.
Nees has very little time to get the players to understand his methods, approach and tactics as the games are coming thick and fast and the nation will thus need to exercise patience and more patience with his Warriors.
Yes, the national team is the ultimate stage, where you have no time to groom players but if ZIFA can take a leaf from the book of their South Africa Football Association (SAFA) counterparts, they will not go wrong.
SAFA hired an expatriate Hugo Broos, who immediately pleaded for time, patience and support, arguing that names do not play football but that he would not hesitate to throw in hitherto unknown players as long they merited a call up to Bafana Bafana.
Since then, Bafana Bafana, who had appeared to have lost their way at the 2019 AFCON, have become competitive again and did well to reach the semi-finals of the last Nations Cup in Cote d’Ivoire.
Our Warriors have begun a new journey under a new coach and with everyone’s support, they could become competitive again and secure a place at the 2025 finals in Morocco.
They would need corporate and government support to augment whatever ZIFA have in their coffers in order to mount a sustained campaign, as the matches will not be easy especially the clashes against former champions and West African giants Cameroon.
There is a need for realism to pervade any wild expectations based on fanaticism.
We cannot afford to judge Nees and his team in just the two games that are coming in a space of four days.
Even at club level, top professional sides such as Manchester United and Liverpool have exercised patience with new coaches and have reaped the rewards.
It can be done too with the Warriors and the next few months are going to be crucial to get them to levels that the nation aspires for.
Online Reporter