Sundaymail Editor
Langton Nyakwenda
Sports Reporter
JUNIOR football coaches are still adamant ZIFA would be making a huge mistake if they pass up the chance to send teams to the COSAFA Under-17 and Under-20 tournaments.
This year’s COSAFA Cup junior competitions are being run under the auspices of the Africa Union Sports Council Region 5 in Lesotho in December.
The Government is covering travel expenses for Team Zimbabwe.
However, there seems to be discord between ZIFA and junior football coaches.
ZIFA insists it cannot field national youth teams at regional tournaments because the nation “will be embarrassed” by poor results, but coaches are of the opinion that junior football is about “nurturing and exposing talent”.
The association’s communications and competitions manager, Xolisani Gwesela, believes players are not yet prepared to represent the country, especially after football’s two-year Covid-19-induced hiatus.
“Football has been suspended for two years and our leagues were not in action. You cannot put up a competitive team at this moment and go and participate in tournaments . . . We will be embarrassed,” Gwesela said.
“So we have resolved as ZIFA that should there be any resources, they should be put into good use by setting up competitive youth leagues.
“Only then will we be able to build a competitive team for the future.”
However, organisers of the COSAFA tournaments say Zimbabwe can still send teams for the Under-17 and Under-20 tournaments, which run from December 1-December 19.
A number of junior football administrators and coaches told The Sunday Mail Sport that ZIFA should revise its decision.
Failure to participate, they say, “will kill a certain generation” of players.
Harare Elite Junior Football Development chairperson and former Dynamos coach Elvis “Chuchu” Chiweshe fears the national game will remain stagnant if ZIFA maintain their stance.
“They are only concerned with finished products; they are only worried with the senior national team.
“But they don’t care to check where those national teams came from. And they don’t want to support that conveyor belt,” he said.
“As long as the association is not supporting the junior leagues, hatina kwatiri kuenda (we are going nowhere). We will remain the weeping boys at senior level.
“Like now, we don’t have a proper Under-23 team, nor do we have a proper Under-20 side. And now ZIFA are denying the Under-17 team to go and get the necessary exposure at the regional tournament.”
He said ZIFA should channel more effort to junior football development to guarantee future success.
Former national Under-17 coach Lloyd Chigowe thinks the decision by the local soccer governing body is “uninformed” and “short-sighted”.
“It leaves me forlorn and downhearted when we make uninformed and short-sighted decisions of not participating, given the plus factors that come with international exposure,” said Chigowe.
“Non-participation is the most regressive decision one can take. This decision by the mother body is flabbergasting.
“Where are we taking the game when we get our priorities so wrong. Have you ever heard of Germany, Brazil, England, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal or Mexico withdrawing from youth tournaments?
“What precedent are we following? Chickens will surely come home to roost.”
South Africa and Zambia, Chigowe added, are channelling huge investments in youth football development.
ZIFA’s decision has rattled coaches in Manicaland province.
La Sakubva Academy coach Timothy Masachi feels there is need to give junior football the recognition it deserves.
“Participating at such tournaments is a good experience for the boys and girls, regardless of the results. Junior football is not all about winning, it’s about development of skill and tactics,” said Masachi.
“The sad part of it all is that due to Covid-19, these juniors have already lost two years because of inactivity and now comes this decision not to participate at the regional tourney.
“We might not feel the effects of such a decision now, but two or three years down the line, we will be counting the losses.”
La Sakubva is a prominent academy in Mutare’s Sakubva suburb.
It has nurtured players like former Warriors’ skipper Willard Katsande, veteran goalkeeper Washington Arubi, SuperSport United defender Onismor Bhasera, Liberty Chakoroma, Tichaona Mabvura, Anelka Chivandire and Last Jesi.
Mashonald East junior football representative Tapiwa Liberty Ndewere believes participating at this year’s youth tournaments would have afforded ZIFA a chance to start afresh.
“If you take kids who were born say in 2003, 2004, 2005, those kids, because there wasn’t any football that happened previously, literally they are dead.
“Now we are saying we are not participating in these junior tournaments. It’s like putting the final nail on the coffin because we believe a strong nation must have a strong foundation,” said Ndewere.
“We were thinking that the Covid-19-induced break gave us time to prepare and map a way forward in terms of our junior football, so we wanted to start afresh with the Under-17s, who will eventually be the national team players.
“So I believe if we were to participate in this COSAFA tournament we would then have a proper database of these players and have a follow-up . . . It’s really painful for us because we are literally killing a certain age group,” he said.
Former Warriors right-back David Sengu, who benefitted from a sound junior football development policy that existed back in the 1990s, wants to see junior leagues revived in all provinces.
“Back then, we had a platform to expose our junior players when they used to play the African Youth qualifiers.
“But now we have stopped junior leagues in the country, so where is the next generation going to come from?”
Sengu played for the Under-17, Under-20, Under-23 and the national team.
“These young boys need to showcase their talents to the world, so when they are not playing anywhere, who is going to see them?
“We have football grounds the whole country but they are underutilised, their purpose is not fulfilled.
“ZIFA should take the participation of our junior national teams seriously. That’s where we will have the next George Shaya, the next Peter Ndlovu, the next Sengu, the next Ashley Rambanapasi and of course the next Benjani Mwaruwari.
“We should send these boys and girls out there for exposure and build the future of our national teams,” he said.
Dynamos juniors coach Talkmore Kamudyariwa also added his voice to the issue.
“It boggles the mind as to why we are working as junior coaches if at the end of the day those juniors don’t participate in competitions.
“The problem we have here in Zimbabwe is that we tend to focus on senior teams and we forget the grassroots which feed the national team.
“It’s all done in a short-cut manner and that’s why our senior teams keep on rotating the same old players because there is no new talent coming up. We don’t put our money in development.”
Veteran junior football coach Ali “Baba” Dube has a different take.
The 74-year-old wants the selection criteria revised before Zimbabwe fields teams at regional youth tournaments.
“Back then we used to have proper selection criteria for the national Under-17 squad. We would have provincial select teams clashing at one centre where the cream would be selected, but these days the selection of players is now bogus,” Dube said.
“Nowadays birth certificates are being fixed, player agents are now influencing the selection of players, so everything has just gone to the dogs.
“So, my thinking is that we should first put our house in order, find the correct age group, address the selection issues. When we have such, then we can compete at international level.”
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