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Augustine Hwata Sports Reporter
WARRIORS coach Ian Gorowa has roped in highly-rated coach Mkhuphali “Mr Cooper” Masuku into his backroom staff in what is turning into a Dream Team combination of some of the best youthful coaching talents in this country. Masuku takes the arole vacated by football legend Peter Ndlovu, who has found employment elsewhere, as the team manager of South African Premiership side Mamelodi Sundowns.
The former Highlanders coach, who was Taurai Mangwiro’s assistant at CAPS United last year before being recruited into the Chicken Inn coaching staff this year, is highly-regarded as one of the best young coaches in the country.
Gorowa is confident that Masuku will bring value to the national team.
“That’s the whole technical team now after we have roped in Mr Cooper. It’s a national team and we need people who can assist from any club,” said Gorowa.
However, Zifa communications officer Xolisani Gwasela tried to downplay Masuku’s new role with the national team, although the coach conducted some of the drills at the Warriors’ training session in Harare yesterday.
“Right now its mere speculation that he has been appointed assistant coach. Zifa will issue a statement at the appropriate time,” said Gwasela.
Masuku joins the Warriors as one of the assistant coaches alongside Callisto Pasuwa, Jairos Tapera and veteran goalkeepers’ coach Richard Tswatswa.
Tswatswa is the only old hand in a very youthful and exciting coaching line-up in which Gorowa brings in the international exposure he has gained in his adventure in South Africa where he coached Mamelodi Sundowns and Moroka Swallows and was assistant coach at Ajax Cape Town.
Pasuwa has won two League and Cup titles with Dynamos in the past two seasons while Tapera was the coach who engineered FC Platinum’s rise from the lower divisions into the Premiership before he was moved “upstairs” to pave way for other coaches when a place in the top-flight league had been won.
Zifa’s decision to appoint Gorowa has won them support, even from their fiercest of critics, with Harare City chairman Leslie Gwindi praising the national association for making the right move.
Gwindi was very critical of the appointment of Klaus Dieter Pagels, describing him as a tourist who would add no value to the Warriors.
“I think this was the right thing to do. Gorowa will add value to the national team,” Gwindi told our sister newspaper, Manica Post.
“He understands our football very well and he has the requisite experience as a football coach.
“Unlike the situation we were now permanently subjected to, where our national team was left in the hands of foreigners without any coaching credentials, Gorowa’s appointment is a step in the right direction.”
Gwindi, however, said as far as he was concerned, the best coach for the Warriors was Sunday Chidzambwa, who remains sidelined by the sanctions imposed on him by Zifa for his alleged role in the Asiagate saga.
Gorowa, who said his coaching heroes were Chidzambwa and Charles Mhlauri, who took the Warriors to the Nations Cup finals, wants his charges to remain focused when they host Mauritius in the second leg of African Nations Championship qualifiers at Rufaro on Sunday.
Zimbabwe beat Mauritius 3-0 in Curepipe in the first round, first leg qualifier.
FC Platinum forward Nelson Maziwisa scored a brace while How Mine striker Simba Sithole weighed in with the other goal.
Mauritius arrived on Wednesday.
“My worry is that these guys will go into the game very complacent knowing that they won 3-0 away from home,” said Gorowa.
“They will go into the match at home thinking it will not be difficult at all for them. I still believe playing against a team like Mauritius, which has nothing to lose, is a tricky tie.
“A team that has got nothing to lose will push up everybody and try to score, all of a sudden they could get another goal to get them back into the game.”
The former Dynamos and Black Rhinos striker said it was now the duty of the technical team to keep the players motivated and focused for another win.
“I think it’s our duty as the technical team to try and make sure that the boys are very professional in their approach to the game,” said Gorowa.
“We have to make sure that the boys win the match and if they win it convincingly, so be it.
“We trained in the morning at Prince Edward School and so we thought that we should utilise the match venue and that’s why we came to Rufaro in the afternoon.
“Some of the guys who normally don’t play at Rufaro should get used to the surface.”
The former Mamelodi Sundowns and Moroka Swallows coach said he was pleased with the way things have been going in their camp.
“It was a good response from the guys. It’s work in progress and we have to go down and try and improve,” said Gorowa.
“I am a new coach and some of the ideas are relatively new to them so we have to try and repeat the instructions again and again as much as we can.”
Today the Warriors are expected to hold two more training sessions with the coaches hoping to have a full complement of players called up.
Augustine Mbara, Felix Chindungwe, Tendai Ndoro, Simba Sithole and Charles Sibanda were not part of the training yesterday.
“Augustine Mbara has family bereavement and we have excused him to go and sort out the family issues. The other guys came late and I understand that Charles has arrived but we asked him to rest.
“We will have two more training sessions again and we should be able to further assess the team,” said Gorowa.
Squad
Tafadzwa Dube, Munyaradzi Diya, Tawanda Muparati, Patson Jaure, Eric Chipeta, Silas Songani, Blessing Chimwamuchere, Devon Chafa, Peter Moyo, Dominic Chungwa, Nelson Maziwisa, Milton Ncube, Hardlife Zvirekwi, Charles Sibanda, Simba Sithole, Tendai Ndoro, Felix Chindungwe.
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