Gorowa meets Zifa trio

Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor—
AFTER weeks of uncertainty, zifa are expected to seal a deal with Warriors coach Ian Gorowa over the gaffer’s contract amid indications yesterday that a three-member board crew will meet with the senior team mentor in the capital this afternoon.The indaba, to be chaired by former Premier Soccer League board member Tawengwa Hara, is expected to bring to an end the protracted contract talks and kick-start Zimbabwe’s preparations for the 2015 African Cup of Nations qualifying campaign.

Zimbabwe will face Tanzania in the first round of the qualifiers and should the Warriors prevail, they would then face the winner between Mozambique and new entrants to international football South Sudan.

A berth at the Nations Cup finals, which will kick off on January 17, 2015 in Marrakech would then be decided after some group games in which the Warriors would then face top seeds Zambia, Cape Verde and Niger in the event that they negotiate their way past the knock-out phase of the qualifiers.

But before the Warriors can think of that long qualifying route, which starts on the weekend of May 16-18, it is the fate of their coach Gorowa which would have to be decided first and there were concerted efforts yesterday by zifa to lay the platform for a possible deal to be thrashed by this afternoon.

There has been growing speculation of Gorowa’s future with the Warriors after a zifa bid to entice the coach into signing a contract seemingly hit a snag since the turn of the year.

Gorowa charmed many people in this nation with the manner in which he guided the Warriors to a commendable fourth place African Nations Championships finish in February, albeit with very limited resources.

Although the Warriors did well at the CHAN tournament in Cape Town, the bigger mission for Gorowa, zifa and Zimbabwe at large has always been qualification for the 2015 Nations Cup.

Gorowa has insisted that he could not commit himself to future Warriors assignments before some sticking issues such as his outstanding salaries and the row over the CHAN prize money had been resolved.

The coach’s sensational fallout with zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze is a matter which the association’s new leadership had been seized with amid revelations that the soccer mother body’s president Cuthbert Dube and his board members want the feud resolved.

Hara could not be reached for comment despite repeated efforts to contact him but another zifa board member who is also on the “task force” that has been mandated to discuss with Gorowa, Bernard Gwarada, confirmed that they would meet with the coach in the capital today.

“All I can say is that something positive is coming up with regards the contract for our national coach and, hopefully, he will also be agreeable but all the questions pertaining to that are being handled by Hara who is the board member in charge of interfacing with the national teams.

“But we owe it to the nation that we all play our parts in trying to ensure that the Warriors qualify for the Nations Cup finals in Morocco, it is one of our major priorities as an association,” Gwarada said.

With Gorowa also expected to return to his Johannesburg base tomorrow, zifa know they have to ensure they seal the deal with the former Moroka Swallow and Mamelodi Sundowns coach on time. Mashingaidze also confirmed that a “task force” from the board was now spearheading talks with Gorowa.

The zifa chief executive also said his association was keen to give the Warriors ample time to prepare for their assignment against Tanzania.

“The board tasked Mr Tawengwa Hara and his crew to conclude the contract talks with the coach at the same time he will be presenting his reports in terms of where we are from the CHAN tournament to the present and this includes his plan of action for the qualifiers that are coming up.

“We would want the technical team to also come up with their squad list so that the office begins to dispatch the letters of release to the various clubs well on time and we are saying while the contract talks are being finalised the call-up letters are also being sent out because essentially there is not much time left between now and May 16 by which time the team should have been in Tanzania,” Mashingaidze said.

Unlike during the CHAN tournament, when he was restricted to just working with only those players who were plying their trade on the domestic front, Gorowa will have the luxury of also calling on some of the talented and experienced foreign-based professionals for the Nations Cup assignments.

But in a rare touch of luck of the draw for the Warriors they received a fair route in their bid for only a third Nations Cup appearance with the senior team avoiding the treacherous destinations of North and West Africa where they have often struggled for results.

There is now a strong sentiment within the domestic football family that should zifa avoid the comedy of errors such as the monumental blunders that saw Tom Saintfiet, Madinda Ndlovu and Norman Mapeza being installed Warriors coaches for the doomed 2012 Nations Cup campaign, then Zimbabwe could just be one of the 16 countries that will line up in either Marrakech, Agadir, Rabat and Tangier which are the host cities for the 2015 tournament.