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Augustine Hwata Senior Sports Reporter—
IF ever we had any doubts about how far the Warriors have fallen from grace then the latest Fifa rankings, which showed that we are now a weaker team than international football lightweights Palestine, provided that dreaded confirmation.Although the Warriors remained in the Top 100 in the world, just holding on in 99th place after dropping one place following their demoralising 0-1 loss to Tanzania at the National Stadium in Dar es Salaam two weeks ago, two teams above them provided a timely reminder of how much others have progressed.
The latest Fifa rankings took into account the results of 112 “A” international matches with 67 friendly matches plus continental qualifiers across the globe being played up to May 30.
It meant that the Warriors’ 2-2 draw against the Taifa Stars at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday, which confirmed Zimbabwe’s elimination from the 2015 Nations Cup at the first preliminary round hurdle, was not considered for these rankings.
But while the Warriors remained stuck, virtually in the same position they were last month, the rapid rise of two teams — Cape Verde and Palestine — put Zimbabwe’s lack of progress into context.
Cape Verde, who drew against the Warriors in a 2012 Nations Cup qualifier in Harare in 2010 and then just edged Norman Mapeza’s men 2-1 in Praia the following year, have now moved into fifth in Africa and into the Top 40 in the world sitting at number 39.
Only Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt and Ghana are the only four African countries ranked better than the Blue Sharks of Cape Verde who moved three places up the table on the African rankings.
Palestine jumped into 94th place in the world in the latest Fifa World Rankings, their highest ever position.
The Palestinians made the biggest move both in terms of points (up 270 points) and ranks (up 71 ranks) on the world rankings and Fifa paid special tribute to them for the way they have improved.
“Special mention must be made of Palestine (94th, up 71), whose four wins and one draw secured them the AFC Challenge Cup together with participation in a continental final competition for the first time, the AFC Asian Cup, due to be held in Australia next January,” the world football governing body said on Fifa.com.
“As a result, Palestine have achieved their highest-ever position in the ranking.”
The Warriors remained as the 26th best team on the continent.
Tanzania, who dumped the Warriors out of the Nations Cup, have every reason to smile after they moved nine places up the rankings.
The Taifa Stars are now 113th in the world and 32nd on the continent.
Before playing Zimbabwe in the qualifiers, Tanzania were ranked 122nd in the world and their victory at home, given that they beat a team that Fifa considered to be stronger, saw them moving nine places up the global ladder.
The latest Fifa rankings also provide a painful soul-searching exercise for the Warriors given that they are the only team, in the World Top 100, who are already out of the qualifying campaign for the 2015 Nations Cup finals.
The rankings show that the Warriors were the biggest casualties, in the first round of the preliminaries of the 2015 Nations Cup finals and confirm that the Taifa Stars caught the biggest fish in that little pond.
Eight countries who are ranked lower than the Warriors on the Fifa world rankings — Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Lesotho, Rwanda, Seychelles and the Central African Republic — remained to fight another day in the 2015 Nations Cup finals by booking their place in the second round of the qualifiers.
Malawi edged Chad on away goals and while the Flames are ranked 122nd in the world and 38th in Africa, a dozen places below the Warriors on the continent, they lived to fight another day in the battle for a place in Morocco next year.
The Flames provided the friendly opposition for the Taifa Stars, before both legs of their first round showdown against the Warriors and both nations — who succeeded in their campaign — must have derived great value from the friendly matches.
Mozambique, who will now battle the Taifa Stars for a place in the Group Stages of the 2015 Nations Cup qualifiers, are ranked 118th in the world and 36th on the continent, 10 places lower than the Warriors.
Little Lesotho are ranked 139th in the world, 40 places below the Warriors and 41st in Africa, 15 places below Gorowa’s men, but the Crocodiles battled on to live and fight another day, in the 2015 Nations Cup qualifiers, after beating Liberia 2-1 on aggregate.
Having lost the first leg 0-1 in Monrovia, Lesotho turned on the power at home in Maseru and won 2-0 to continue their impressive show in their backyard where they also held Zambia to a draw during the 2014 World Cup qualifiers in a decisive result that swung the balance of power towards the Black Stars of Ghana.
Seychelles, who are ranked 181st in the world and 49th on the continent, are still in the race for the 2015 Nations Cup finals although their triumph came by default after their opposition, Gambia, were suspended from international football by Fifa.
Kenya (108, 30), Equatorial Guinea (102, 27), Rwanda (116, 35) and the Central African Republic (105, 28) are all ranked lower than the Warriors but they remained alive in the race for the 2015 Nations Cup qualifiers.
The Warriors’ first round elimination marked the first time that they have fallen at the first hurdle in their bid to qualify for the Nations Cup since they lost to Malawi in their quest to make the ’84 Nations Cup finals.
Gorowa refused to throw in the towel, despite the humiliation at the hands of Tanzania, with the coach saying he would not take the easy option of walking away from a team that needs help.
“We are not developing and lets face it, we are in a national crisis in terms of football. It is after falling to a country like Tanzania when we have to accept as a nation whether we are good enough to compete,” said Gorowa.
“I also think that it was a blessing in disguise to know where we stand as a footballing nation. We cannot continue fooling ourselves, there is a crisis.
“It’s indeed a national crisis when our team crashes out of the Afcon at the preliminary stage. We need to sit down, not only with Zifa, but with all stakeholders, to see how best we can come out of this crisis. We learnt the hard way but we have to take a stance to rebuild the national game.”
Online Reporter