Let’s just whistle in the dark

In a situation like ours where you find the Warriors between a rock and a hard place, where you find the Zifa leadership even afraid of its own shadow, where you find the ghost of Henrietta Rushwaya still traumatising everyone at Zifa, you certainly have to whistle in the dark, just to try and hide the fear in you.

The fear of seeing the national team bow out of the qualifiers of the 2014 Brazil World Cup finals, which is almost certain, the fear of seeing the Warriors tumble out of the qualifiers of the 2013 South Africa African Cup of Nations finals, which however, is still within our control, all make us want to whistle in the dark, just to hide the fear and give a false impression to anything out there in the thicket that we are not scared.

We have to pretend everything is alright because we have an important match to play tomorrow. The match against Burundi, which is a must win for the Warriors will shape the destiny of the leadership at Zifa, in the Warriors technical set up and even among players.

That is why it was very important to pretend all week that everything in our house was in order, just to give a scare to the visitors, who by now already have a psychological boost in that they have heard that we are a nation divided when it comes to football and we don’t even trust our own players, and the coach also does not know what needs to be done to get a goal. It’s a sad scenario that we find our football in and it certainly needs some sober minds and important decisions to be made.

Perhaps what Zifa should do as a matter of urgency is to get the Asiagate issue out of the way. They told us long back that the exercise will not be an overnight event, and the Independent Ethics Committee headed by Justice Ibrahim even hinted that it might take more than a year, but we certainly need to bring finality to that chapter so that we move forward.

It does not need a rocket scientist to see that the ghost of former CEO Rushwaya still haunts Zifa and once the world knows whether she is still part of football or she has been banished from football, the better. It will also make life easy for players because they will know how to interact with her and that will certainly save us from incidents like we had during the week where the nation woke up to shocking news that the last two matches of the Warriors could have been fixed because some players were seen with Rushwaya or coming from her premises, since she has been accused of being the mastermind of the match-fixing scam by the association.

Of course, the court dropped match-fixing charges against her because of lack of evidence or the unavailability of witnesses, but her name has been linked to such activities and the national association keeps on rubbing it in. She is not the only one, there are coaches and office bearers who were suspended after they were accused of corruption and Zifa just has to deal with those issues and finish them so that we start on a clean chapter.

We lost the first leg of the qualifiers to South Africa in Burundi 2-1 because we had a make- shift team after the core of the Warriors squad was suspended over the Asiagate issue and when we were a few days before the second leg, key striker, Knowledge Musona, who however, has not scored in the two games, was linked to corruption. And midfielder Ovidy Karuru, whom coach Rahman Gumbo said if he was a player he was going to kill him for squandering a scoring opportunity in Mozambique at the weekend, was also brushed with the same brush with Musona, together with the suspended duo of Thomas Sweswe and Jaimu Jambo.

The soccer loving public is suddenly faced with serious confusion because no one trusts anyone. So who should supporters trust now? Should they trust Zifa? Should they trust the coach? Should they trust the players?  It’s a tricky situation for football fans and I feel sorry for them. But my advice is let’s just whistle in the dark.

The only thing that can sooth the souls of millions of Zimbabweans is a win tomorrow. And the win can only come if the players throw caution to the wind and play attacking football because a draw won’t help us. We just have to win, period.

It is also crucial for the coach to strike a rapport with his players. Players play for the coach, they don’t play for Zifa officials and even at club level, their master is the coach, not club owners or executive who however, pay their wages. Sport is a different kind of animal where the coach and players must bond, once that happens, results will come. That is why in most cases, you find that a national team coach once appointed starts calling up players from his club or former club. It’s because he has a working relationship with those players and he knows that they listen to him and take orders from him only. But now I won’t be surprised if Rush suspects that his players are getting orders from elsewhere, but that is Zimbabwean football and national team politics. It’s a story for another day I suppose.

If Rush had Charles Sibanda and Donald Ngoma in the Warriors team, he would not be worried about whom they meet because he knows they are his boys, and the players won’t want to put themselves in any situation that might put them in bad light with their coach and I was not surprised during the week when someone suggested to me that the coach should just field his FC Platinum team tomorrow because there seems to be too many issues and too many hands within the Warriors set up. I just laughed it off, but it shows the level of boredom that events surrounding the national team have weighed down on the fans.

Hopefully, the Warriors will produce some magic tomorrow and we certainly need serious prayers for good luck. Luckily the game is on a Sunday. When we thank God for the kind fathers he has given us since its Fathers Day, let us also pray for the Warriors.

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