Mathew Masinge
Robson Sharuko
Metros Editor
ZIFA’S gamble on a foreign coach to lead the Warriors at the AFCON finals, for the first time in our history, failed to change the script as Zimbabwe finished bottom of their group for the sixth time in six attempts.
Mario Marinica became the first foreign coach to guide the Warriors at the AFCON finals and his adventure, just like the local coaches before him, ended at the very first hurdle.
Super Mario’s team finished bottom of their group – the same fate that met Sunday Chidzambwa’s teams in 2004 and 2019, Charles Mhlauri’s team in 2006, Kalisto Pasuwa’s team in 2017 and Norman Mapeza’s team in 2021.
The Romanian coach’s tally of just one point, in three group matches, meant he matched Pasuwa’s tally in 2017 and Chidzambwa’s tally in Egypt in 2019.
It also means that his mission was less successful when compared to Chidzambwa’s mission in 2004, in which his Warriors picked up three points, on their maiden appearance at the AFCON finals.
The mission led by Mhlauri in 2006 saw the Warriors pick up three points while Mapeza and his men took home three points from their AFCON finals adventure in 2021.
Given that two points have been enough to take Tanzania into the Round of 16 at the current AFCON finals, it puts into context how Super Mario blew the best chance the Warriors had of reaching the knockout stages.
His diabolical decision to restrict one of his best forwards, Tawanda Maswanhise, to just 90 minutes of the final game, in which he emerged as the best player, was a sign of his weaknesses.
Mhlauri has the best campaign as his troops only missed a place in the quarter-finals at the 2006 AFCON finals by virtue of an inferior goal difference after ending with the same number of points as Ghana and Senegal in a group that was dominated by Nigeria.
He can also argue that if VAR was in operation, his team would have made the quarter-finals as their third effort against Ghana, which was controversially ruled out for offside, would have taken them through.
Norman Mapeza can also argue that his Class of 2021 took eventual champions Senegal the full distance before a last-gasp penalty, which was converted by Sadio Mane in the 97th minute, helped the Teranga Lions to a 1-0 win.
They beat Guinea 2-1 and a draw against Malawi would have been enough for them to qualify for the Round of 16 but, somehow, the Warriors blew their chance as they lost 1-2 to the Flames.
But, after the Warriors’ latest failure, maybe, this is also the right time to look beyond the coaches and take a closer look at the players themselves and how they have performed while representing their country.
The statistics, especially in the past five years, paint an ugly picture of failure.
•The Warriors are WINLESS in their last 11 AFCON/World Cup games and, among their six losses, was a miserable 0-1 defeat at the hands of Lesotho.
•The Warriors have only beaten three countries – Namibia, Botswana and Guinea – in their last 30 matches in these two major football competitions.
•Half of those 30 games, 15 in total, were losses, including two defeats at the hands of Eswatini.
•There was a three-year gap between the Warriors’ 1-0 win over Botswana, under Zdravko Logarusic, in March 2021, and their 1-0 win over Namibia, under Michael Nees, in October last year.
•The Warriors won again, a few days later, beating the same opponents Namibia 3-1 on October 14 last year but that was the last time the Warriors won a World Cup/AFCON qualifier.
•Eleven games later, representing 990 minutes of action, or more than 16 hours of battle, the Warriors are yet to win another game in these two big competitions.
•There have been some bright spots, like the 1-1 draw away in Nigeria and the goalless draw against Bafana Bafana in Durban, but generally it has been a very poor adventure.
•One of the reasons appears to be reluctance on the coaches to embrace the emerging stars, who grew up in Europe, especially England, and are coming from a culture where a player is allowed to ask a coach why he has not been included in the starting XI.
•For some of our old school coaches, this has been taken as a challenge to their authority and while Maswanhise scored the crucial goal against Kenya and Tawanda Chirewa scored the equaliser in Nigeria, their places in the starting XI have not been guaranteed.
•Since football returned from its Covid-break, the Warriors have won just four matches in the 32 World Cup/AFCON qualifiers they have played.
•They have drawn 10 games, lost the other 12, scored 19 goals and conceded 29 for a return of just 19 points out of a possible 75 points.
•This means they have taken just 25,33 percent of the points which have been on offer during that period in the two major competitions and they have taken only maximum points on four occasions and against just three teams – Namibia, Botswana and Guinea.
Online Reporter
So what’s your point?