adminBennedict Moyo, who is the Zifa board member responsible for competitions under which international matches fall, said national age-group teams must always be in place. He said this would be easier for national coaches and provide for a wider selection base.
He said they had already initiated that such matches be played between the two countries as they were beneficial to the development of the game.
He said the future of the game lay in active junior national teams boasting a good monitoring programme that would see players graduate from one age-group to the other.
“Ideally we should be having the Zimbabwe Under-17 and -20 teams playing their Botswana counterparts in friendlies in Bulawayo. This would be good for the development of future national teams for both teams.
“Real development means having active age-group teams that go through an organised structured programme,” said Moyo.
Moyo said it was not good for Zifa to treat international qualifiers as a project. He said national team activity was an around-the-clock job in which coaches should be identifying talent on a daily basis. He said in the past the country tended to fare badly in international events because of inadequate preparations.
“Taking part in qualifiers is what should always be on our calendar and talent identification an all-year round business with coaches chopping and adding new faces to an already established age-group team.
“The future of the game lies in active Under-15s, Under-17s, Under-20s and Under-23s. If we have these always in place it will stop allegations of corruption in the process of selecting national teams. Good players will be monitored throughout the stages,” said Moyo.
The former Ziscosteel and Young Warriors centreback said Zifa wanted to have a database where all records about Zimbabwe players would be kept.
A crop of young players has emerged abroad and only one, Trevor Mutero, has been lucky to be involved in age-group teams.
His successful marketing through Zimbabwe youth teams has earned him a trial at Wits, a South African Premiership side.
“We would like to have information about all the boys said to be Zimbabweans abroad. Mutero indicated that he wants to play for the country of his birth, we would like to know what the other boys think. Every Zimbabwean deserves an equal opportunity when it comes to national teams, so having them as on-going exercises will ensure continuity and that coaches have a wider base for talent identification. National teams are not a preserve of agents’ favourites or coaches but players selected must merit their selection,” said the veteran administrator.
There have been complaints of a lack of broad-based selection criteria that would enable a deserving youth from around the country to represent the country.
Moyo said he was yet to get feedback from Harare on the Under-17 and -20 teams’ participation in continental tournaments.
Before New Year Zifa confirmed that they had written to Caf to advise the continental body that the country was available for continental competitions.
Previously Zifa have skipped such tournaments.
Online Reporter