adminPetros Kausiyo in RUSTENBURG, South Africa
ZIMBABWE soccer legend Peter Ndlovu has urged ZIFA to draw major lessons from the senior team’s COSAFA Cup humiliation by Namibia and ensure the Warriors are adequately prepared for the start of their 2017 African Cup of Nations qualifying campaign early next month.
The Warriors were on Thursday night reminded of how much they have fallen in standards when a fired-up Namibia sent them tumbling out of the COSAFA Cup with a 4-1 hiding at Moruleng Stadium.
It was a result that also sent shockwaves within the COSAFA region given the Warriors’ rich history in this tournament they have won a record four-times together with holders Zambia.
But, more worryingly for the Zimbabwe football family, the shock defeat by the Brave Warriors highlighted the depths to which we have sunk that we cannot even get past the preliminary stage of the COSAFA Cup competition.
Ndlovu, now a team manager at South African Premiership giants Mamelodi Sundowns, has been named one of the COSAFA Cup ambassadors together with Mozambique’s Manuel “Tico Tico’’ Bucuane, Esau Kanyenda of Malawi and former Mauritius striker Jean Marc.
The former Coventry City and Sheffield United striker yesterday offered his opinion on the state of the Warriors.
“I think this defeat in the COSAFA Cup teaches us a lesson about how important preparations are. If there are no preparations don’t just blame it on the players.
“There is nothing easy in football anymore, remember it has also become more scientific and teams are doing a lot more analysis using DVDs of your games and if you are going to meet for a day or two don’t just expect to do well,’’ Ndlovu said.
The legendary former Zimbabwe captain warned the country to brace for more disappointment in the Nations Cup qualifiers if the senior side is once again ill-prepared.
“We might seem to have an easy group (with Malawi, Swaziland and Guinea) in the Nations Cup but there is never an easy group. Remember we once lost to Seychelles in the Nations Cup qualifiers.
“The secret lies in preparing as hard as you can.’’
Ndlovu urged the current crop of Warriors to also take leaf from his class which managed back-to-back appearances at the 2004 and 2006 Nations Cup finals and often took the qualification battles to the wire.
“I think the players we have also need to look at how we were doing things in the COSAFA Cup and in the Nations Cup and try to improve on that.
“Of course, they are young and they are still learning and I am glad the COSAFA Cup is still there which we can use to develop the young players,’’ Ndlovu said.
But the Warriors know that their defeat by Namibia was a disgrace to the nation.
Their coach at this tournament, Saul Chaminuka, said yesterday he was still searching for answers on how they crumbled against a Brave Warriors side that are not even favourites at this competition.
“I am still trying to establish what really went wrong but I know that we were just not up to scratch. We needlessly lost the ball, we were poor with our marking and just could not execute our game plan, we were a shadow of ourselves,’’ Chaminuka said.
Namibia are yet to go beyond the quarter-final stage since the tournament and just like two years ago in Ndola, Zambia, the Bae Warriors won their preliminary round group but fell at the next hurdle.
Bookmakers had actually put their money on a Battle of the Zambezi derby tie between Zimbabwe and Zambia in the first of the quarter-finals at Moruleng tomorrow.
The second quarter-final game here tomorrow will feature Bafana Bafana against the Botswana Zebras.
But after humiliating their nemesis, the Brave Warriors celebrated as if they had won the cup and their coach Ricardo Mannetti was quick to point to his players that the real deal starts tomorrow when they meet the seeded teams.
“The scoreline 4-1 against Zimbabwe is flattering and I have told my players that despite this big win we need to remain grounded.
“Of course, in terms of tactics and how we used the ball we were spot on against Zimbabwe but Zambia are coming in fresh and strong too,’’ Mannetti said.
As the Warriors head home today, they will know that there is very little time left before they shift their attention to the 2017 Nations Cup campaign and coach Callisto Pasuwa will no doubt call on his more experienced players when he names the side that will face Malawi in Blantyre on June 12.
The former Dynamos coach, who is also in charge of the national Under-23 side chasing a 2016 Olympic dream, will also be keeping an eye on the Flames team that will play Mozambique here on Monday in a COSAFA Cup quarter-final. Malawi, just like Zambia, Swaziland and Tanzania have brought the bulk of their Nations Cup squads to the COSAFA Cup to take advantage of the few games the regional tournament offers as part of their build-up to the campaign for places at the 2017 continental soccer showcase in Gabon.
Pasuwa will no doubt be hoping that unlike for the Young Warriors and COSAFA Cup assignments, he will have all his best players available for selection.
Instead it will be the Brave Warriors who now line up against a strong Chipolopolo side that have named their Nations Cup squad for tomorrow’s games.
The stubborn fact is that the Warriors have fallen from grace and instead of being in the COSAFA Cup’s big boys club that includes hosts South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia, they will be heading home together with minnows Seychelles and Mauritius.
That the team that ended their 2015 Nations Cup interests in June last year — Tanzania — failed to win two of their Group B games here losing 1-0 to Swaziland and 2-1 to Madagascar also put into perspective the Warriors decline.
Tanzania are just missing three of the players — Young Africans centre Back Nadir Haroub and the TP Mazembe pair of Thomas Ulimengwu and Mbwana Samata — from the squad that knocked Ian Gorowa’s men 3-2 on aggregate at the preliminary round stage.
Online Reporter