adminSports Correspondent
FOOTBALL fans have reacted with disdain to reports that Zifa intends hosting the African Nations Championship final round first leg qualifier between the Warriors and Lesotho at Barbourfields Stadium next month saying they needed to watch more “important” games involving national teams. Fans have always questioned Zifa’s move to continue holding national team matches in Harare and the move to bring the Warriors Chan game had been expected to come as a welcome relief to the thousands of football supporters in the city who have always itched for an opportunity to watch the national team live in action.
The game will be played on 18 October.
While some felt it would be the beginning of seeing more of the Warriors some fans were of the view that the match was unlikely to appeal to many football followers giving Zifa justification for not bringing the next Afcon qualifier to the city.
Harare has played host to virtually all national teams’ matches right from the junior sides and the men and women’s games. Last week Zimbabwe played Guinea at Rufaro Stadium in an Afcon qualifier and the match attracted a full house.
Ardent football follower, Melusi Sibanda of Burnside said Zifa was practicing “tokenism” by bringing a Chan tie to the city and then claiming they are taking the Warriors countrywide.
The Chan competition involves locally-based players but the Warriors match is crucial in that it is the first leg of two matches that would see the winner go through to the finals to be held in Rwanda next year.
“We want to watch the Warriors and we have complained many times but they cannot expect us to be happy when they bringing in a Chan game that involve locally-based players. We want to watch the best of the Warriors as we saw last weekend when we had the likes of Costa Nhamoinesu, Nyasha Mushekwi, Knowledge Musona and Mathew Rusike among others.
“Fans in Bulawayo also want to watch a high stakes game involving the top footballers both from Zimbabwe and other countries,” he said.
Sibanda said once people fail to attend this match in numbers, Zifa might claim they won’t bring any national teams games because of low attendance but it would be because of the value of the tie.
Bulawayo last played host to the Warriors when they took on Mozambique in a friendly match in 2013.
Callisto Ncube of Pumula South feels aspiring footballers also want to have an opportunity to watch their heroes.
Alexander Phiri of Njube is of the view that Bulawayo fans deserved high profile football games involving the national team.
“Now that we were chucked out of the 2017 World Cup qualifiers, the Afcon qualifiers are the only realistic chances of important games and we are pleading with Zifa to bring one of the games here so that we show them our passionate support for the national team,” he said.
Lameck Maranga, who resides in the city centre, welcomed the decision but said they also wanted to see international footballers from countries such as Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Guinea.
He said the limitation with Chan was that the Warriors would be playing against opposition from close countries, which in most cases is weak and would not give the fans entertaining football.
Nonetheless, Zifa spokesman, Xolisani Gwesela urged fans in Bulawayo to turn up in their numbers for the Chan tie at Barbourfields Stadium to convince Zifa to give them a high profile game.
“Fans should convince us they love the Warriors by turning up in their numbers for this game then we can consider bringing other high profile games to the city,” he said.
Online Reporter