adminWORLD soccer’s governing body FIFA have expelled Zimbabwe from the 2018 World Cup qualifying competition for failing to pay a former coach and our fate has been EFFECTIVELY sealed as far as the next global soccer showcase is concerned.
“The expulsion comes as a result of the non-payment of an outstanding debt by ZIFA (the Zimbabwe Football Federation) to the coach Jose Claudinei Georgini following a decision passed on 15 August 2012 by the . . . FIFA Players’ Status Committee,” FIFA said in a statement back in March this year.
Valinhos, as Jose Claudinei Georgini was popularly known locally in soccer circles, was brought in during the Wellington Nyatanga era, which also had Henrietta Rushwaya as chief executive officer in 2008.
Valinhos was unveiled at a glittering ceremony in Harare by the late Zifa patron Vice-President Joseph Msika before signing his contract.
He was, however, fired after a dismal 2010 Afcon and World Cup campaign without receiving the balance of his salary.
This year, repeated assurances that things would be sorted out during a grace period initially offered came from both Zifa and the parent ministry – the Ministry of Sports, Arts and Culture.
Alas, it was only cheap politicking.
After all, talk is cheap they say!
It is public knowledge that football in Zimbabwe has been hogged by scandal after scandal with ZIFA sinking deeper and deeper into mess every moment.
While Caf outlined the procedure of the qualification process for the African confederations this week, Zimbabwe will be sadly not involved.
What more do we need as a nation to understand that the current crop of leaders at Zifa have failed us?
The agonising fact is that the likes of bustling forward Nyasha Mushekwi, talismanic Knowledge Musona, steely Willard Katsande, the exciting Khama Billiart and many others have been deprived of a chance of a lifetime to fight for a place among the big boys on global scale.
Given their average age, this generation of talented footballers will probably never have a chance to compete as a team for World Cup qualification when they next chance presents itself ahead of the 2022 World Cup.
The question on every football follower’s lips is that what is the difference between current scenario where Zimbabwe has been banned from the 2018 World Cup for failing to pay a coach and Government dissolution of the Zifa board then get banned from international football competitions?
To some, the difference is the same hence Government should immediately move in to sort out the rot that has crippled into our football.
This is the dilemma that the nation finds itself in as the Cuthbert Dube administration at 53 Livingstone House continues with its Ostrich approach to problems bedevilling football in this country.
It is indeed somewhere between a rock and a hard place where we find ourselves in given that some argue that there is more to football in Zimbabwe than this World Cup ban since we have Under 23s who are set to partake in the All Africa Games later this year as well as other tournaments in the near future hence we need not have Government interference in Zifa so that we remain part of the global football family.
Everything surrounding our flagship football team – the Warriors – has become real madness and it is only natural for every progressive citizen to be angry in view of what is transpiring.
Our preparations ahead of crucial matches are chaotic. The senior women national team – the Might Warriors – failed to travel to Ivory Coast for match that was scheduled for last Sunday.
Things have just fallen apart at Zifa and the centre cannot hold anymore!
It only leaves us with a just few words for Dube and his cabal at Zifa – please spare us this madness by stepping down now.
Online Reporter