Online Reporter
Veronica Gwaze
Zimpapers Sports Hub
MIGHTY Warriors coach Sithethelelwe “Kwinji 15” Sibanda has insisted that meritocracy will be the guiding principle when she assembles her Zimbabwe squad for the African Zone Women’s football Olympic qualification campaign.
Zimbabwe kick-start their qualifying campaign with a back-to-back date against Malawi in the second round of the qualifiers, which is scheduled to run between October 5 and 23.
Sibanda’s troops were handed a first-round bye in the draw conducted at the CAF’s headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, recently.
Six lowest-FIFA-ranked nations — Sudan, Mauritius, Djibouti, South Sudan, Madagascar and Comoros — enter the competition in the first round slated for the FIFA International break in June.
Three nations from those six will then join Zimbabwe and 28 other African teams in round two.
Sibanda, a former Zimbabwe international, is aware of the need to put together the strongest possible side to challenge for a place at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
But the Mighty Warriors coach told Zimpapers Sports Hub that she would not be hoodwinked by the mere fact that someone is based in the diaspora.
“With women’s football it is difficult to get proper information on which clubs or leagues certain players play for, sometimes it is just a matter of verbal recommendation without substance.
“Further, some of these players are plying their trade in social clubs and leagues, so the level is lower, hence difficult to work with,” she said.
Instead, Sibanda has challenged agents, scouts, managers, parents or relatives of players abroad to provide substantial evidence, such as match video footage, internet links and data, that backs the recommendations they would have made.
She noted with concern that unlike their male counterparts in the Warriors, the Mighty Warriors do not have a host of players plying their trade in the professional leagues in Europe or the Americas.
The foreign contingent of Mighty Warriors captain Emmaculate Msipa, Kudakwashe Basopo, Ruvimbo Mucherera and Yolanda Kanyai are among the known players, who are expected back home.
Msipa is currently on the books of Congolese outfit TP Mazembe while Basopo is firing goals for Eswatini’s Nsingizini Hotspurs.
Kanyai and Mucherera will be coming from Darwin in Australia and Maccabi Hadera WFC, Israel respectively.
Mucherera boasts European Champions League experience, which she attained when she was turning out for Lithuanian champions Gintra Universitetas, while captain Msipa was part of the 2016 squad that made a historic maiden appearance at the Olympics in Brazil.
Football enthusiasts note that there is need for Sibanda to widen her pool of selection by bringing in more deserving international-based players.
There have also been suggestions that Sibanda should assemble a crew of technocrats composed the likes of coaches Kennedy Chihuri, George Mbwando, Methembe Ndlovu and Charles Mhlauri who are involved in the game in the Diaspora. Chihuri is based in England and Mbwando in Germany, while the pair of former Warriors gaffers Mhlauri and Ndlovu are in the US.
Having a network of experts is expected to lessen her scouting burden, considering that they are certified coaches who understand issues of talent identification, potential and national team demands.
“We really need as much help as we can get because these are big games, a lot is at stake and we need all our best missiles in camp,” added Sibanda.
“With the girls it is a difficult situation because we usually work with recommendations, but unfortunately in most cases, they come without substance to authenticate everything.
“With the current AI, some of the videos that circulate are edited, and when you then meet the player, you realise that everything is different from what you saw on video.
“It has become a challenge to use videos for analysis. In fact, most may not know that we have been there before, and we eventually made a resolution not to use these videos.”
Sibanda has proposed to start working with her foreign-based players during the June window as she seeks to give the team an opportunity to work together and bond in time.
“We have a plan to this effect, so to start with, we have since proposed to start working on that squad from the June window,” she said.
“Hopefully everything goes accordingly, after that, if we can have friendlies, so that the locals can play alongside the foreign based in competitive situations.”
