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In a telephone interview yesterday, the FUZ secretary-general Paul Gundani said his organisation would not fold its hands and watch players being mistreated by Zifa for sins that they did not commit.
On Wednesday, the Zifa chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze was quoted as saying that the national team duo of Ovidy Karuru and Knowledge Musona had lunch with Asiagate tainted players Thomas Sweswe and Zhaimo Jambo at former Zifa CEO Henrietta Rushwaya’s offices.
Mashingaidze raised concerns that the players might have been working with bookies in their two matches against Guinea and Mozambique, something which FUZ has dismissed saying Zifa should take full responsibility for the national team’s poor performance.
“The continued victimisation of footballers is reaching alarming levels. We are not at all impressed by the manipulation of footballers by people who are fighting their own wars.
“The false accusations levelled against players are very unfortunate and we will not sit back and watch while innocent players are being vilified.
“The whole nation is aware of what is wrong and where it is wrong.
“We did not expect Rahman Gumbo to blame Karuru and as a coach he should protect his players. From what we have established, Karuru and Musona wanted to collect some quotations from their friend, Sweswe, and now they are accused of match-fixing, which is wrong. These boys are professionals and we believe they are doing everything to the best of their abilities,” said Gundani.
Gundani said Zifa were to blame for the 1-0 loss against Guinea and the goalless draw against Mozambique in the World Cup qualifiers.
The former Zimbabwe national team star said Guinea and Mozambique had invested in preparing for their World Cup matches with the former having camped in France and South Africa yet the Warriors only had less than two weeks to train.
Gundani said even the incidents that happened before the Warriors’ trip to Mozambique could have affected the players.
At one time the Warriors found their training ground locked, they were chucked out of their hotel with their passports confiscated over outstanding bills. Mbada Diamonds came to the team’s rescue when they failed to secure funds for their Mozambique trip.
All the above incidents, according to Gundani, affected the players.
However, Mashingaidze said they were not taking matters lightly as they were aware that there were some people bent on destroying local football.
He said they have alerted the technical team on information that they got about the players that allegedly associated with “Asiagate-tainted people”.
“It’s unfortunate that people think we are victimising players or we have scores to settle which is not true. We have worked hard so that our football gets corporate backing and issues to do with match-fixing are the ones which scare our partners.
“We won’t tolerate people who want to destabilise our football. Tell me, if say someone sees you coming from a brothel what will they think of you?” said Mashingaidze.
The Zifa chief executive said they had also beefed up security at the Warriors’ training camp in a move meant to curb any chances of match-fixing. He said it was up to the coaches to select or leave out the players that have been fingered.
Zimbabwe need a one nil victory over Burundi to progress to the next stage of the 2013 Afcon qualifiers.
Squad
Tapuwa Kapini, Marlon Jani, Onismor Bhasera, Vusa Nyoni, Oscar Machapa, Tinashe Nengomasha, Esrom Nyandoro, Willard Katsande, Arnold Chaka, Knowledge Musona, Terrence Mandaza, Denver Mukamba, Takesure Chinyama, Rodwell Chinyengetere, Khama Billiat, Archieford Gutu, Carlington Nyadombo, Clive Kawinga, Roderick Mutuma, Partson Jaure, Nelson Mazivise, Francisco Zvikumbawire.
Londile Moyo
Bongani Ndlovu