Fifa ruling worries Warriors

Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
ZIMBABWE’S Warriors are worried that their preparations for the start of the 2015 African Cup of Nations might be thrown into turmoil following a Fifa ruling that clubs will not be compelled to release players during the first rounds of the qualifiers.
The Warriors will face Tanzania in Dar es Salaam in a first round, first leg qualifier on the weekend of may 16-18 with the return leg scheduled for Harare two weeks later.

In the event the Warriors prevail over Tanzania, they would face the winner of the other first round tie pitting South Sudan and Mozambique with the winner advancing to the group stage of the qualifiers.

Waiting in ambush for the Warriors in that group stage, in the event that Ian Gorowa’s men negotiate the first two hurdles, will be Group F seeds Zambia, Cape Verde and Niger.

But for now the Warriors, who will regroup for the first time since finishing fourth at the African Nations Championships, will have all their attention fixed on the need to overcome Tanzania’s Taifa Stars in the two-legged round and then turn to the challenge that would be posed by either South Sudan or Mozambique.

A worrying precedent for the Warriors and teams in their bracket, who are involved in the opening qualifying rounds, was, however, set this week when Fifa ruled this week that the dates of the opening two rounds of the qualifiers fall outside the calendar they have reserved for international fixtures this year.

This development opened the way for clubs to opt to hold onto their players without fear of any reprisals from the respective associations.
The Confederation of African Football did not help matters either by setting the dates for the opening group stages ties of the Confederation Cup and the Champions League on the same weekend as the Nations Cup qualifiers.

Warriors team manager Sharrif Mussa last night said they were naturally concerned by Fifa’s pronouncements and were now banking on the goodwill between the clubs and Zifa in the event that some of the players they want for the showdown with Tanzania are caught up in their respective teams’ assignments.

The Warriors squad to face Tanzania is expected to be revealed on Monday but Mussa noted that the senior team had already seen some of their plans affected by the fact that the South African Premiership season will end on May 10 which means Gorowa’s bid to have an early and longer training camp has been scuppered. Unlike the CHAN squad, which drew all the playing material from one league, the Nations Cup side will bring in players from Europe, South Africa, North Africa and the domestic front. Mussa said they had been taken aback by the Fifa announcement but remained optimistic that the move would not result in wholesale decisions by clubs to cling onto to their players even when they do not have league and cup assignments.

Zifa had also already dispatched letters requesting the release of players that coach Gorowa has earmarked for the clash with the Taifa Stars ahead of the Monday announcement of the squad.

“Obviously by these pronouncements from Fifa on clubs being free to retain their players, clubs now have the upper hand.
“What could also complicate things for us is that at this time of the year not many clubs are like Bayern Munich who won their league title with several games to spare.

“Most of the teams are either still involved in the fight for the championship title or the fight for survival in their respective leagues and in such situations clubs want to hold onto to all their players.

“The South African season will end on 10 May and we hope the clubs won’t delay any further in releasing their players. Of course, we are also worried about one or two players from Kaizer Chiefs who might not make it because of their club’s involvement in the Nedbank Cup final,’’ Mussa said.

Mussa also said they were also hopeful that once released, the players would waste no time in making their way to Harare given that the Warriors could now just have at least three days of training camp before they fly out to Dar es Salaam.

“Fifa, as the mother body, have made their position and we have to now plead with the clubs but we are also hoping that those players that will be released early will ensure they immediately make their way into camp.

“We also feel that associations ought to take it up with Caf over the Champions League and the Confederation Cup dates.
“We had wanted to start camp early but with such leagues like South Africa where the bulk of our players come from finishing on 10 May it now looks like we are just going to have two or three days of training camp in Harare before we fly out,’’ Mussa said.

The Warriors will, however, take some solace in the fact that they will not be the only nation affected by the Fifa decision as this will impact on all teams playing in the early qualifying rounds.

Zimbabwe and the likes of Tanzania, Namibia, Benin, Mozambique, Rwanda, Seychelles, Burundi, Swaziland, Uganda, Liberia and Kenya are also paying the price of being lowly ranked on the Fifa and Caf ratings.

This means the Warriors and their lowly ranked peers do not enjoy the privilege of a bye enjoyed by such teams like African champions Nigeria, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Mali, Tunisia, Algeria, Angola, Cap Verde, Togo, Egypt and South Africa.