Online Reporter
Tadious Manyepo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
NEW Warriors coach Marian “Mario” Marinica wants Zimbabwe to swiftly adjust to his fast-football philosophy in which he puts emphasis on pace.
This approach, the Romanian believes, will bring the goals that have been lacking in the Warriors.
The Romanian-born British gaffer yesterday spent the second day with his players in the heat of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia where the Warriors will play Algeria in an international friendly tomorrow.
But with some travel delays, he was only set to have a full complement of the team by late last night.
The former Malawi and Liberia coach replaced German Michael Nees, who was fired a fortnight ago.
He has been tasked with preparing the squad which he will take to the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco at the end of next month.
Mario is eager to lead the Warriors into breaking their Nations Cup jinx and advancing beyond the group stage for the first time.
The Romanian has already achieved that feat when guiding Malawi to the Round of 16 after taking Malawi to this stage in the 2021 (played in 2022) finals in Cameroon.
He ironically masterminded a 2-1 victory over the Warriors in the group stages.
Mario, however, acknowledges the quality that Zimbabwe possesses, which he says should be completed by goalscoring.
Speaking in a virtual media briefing from Saudi Arabia, Mario explained his philosophy.
“My philosophy of playing is called fast and very fast, which actually means think fast, act fast, move fast and be well prepared and organised.
“And that means in everything, including on and off the pitch. So basically, I would like players to start thinking fast, that’s what they have to do in terms of strategy.
“How they have to execute elements is tactical and technical. How they have to prepare physically to execute these elements,’’ Marinica said.
He added that the players’ mentality would be key in securing victories that have seemingly eluded the Warriors.
“The boys have reacted very well. I was very impressed with that. I knew I haven’t worked with them, so I was impressed by their quality.
“Very good players, very good quality from the players I saw yesterday (on Monday).
“But we’ll have to see, because at the end of the day, the better quality player is the one who is able to express themselves on the pitch.
“So, I was impressed with that. What I now want from them is to be more direct because sometimes there are too many passes, too many, let’s say, negative plays rather than being direct to threaten the opponent’s goal.
“That’s one of the major weaknesses in the last four games they have failed to score a goal, so we have to improve on that.”
Besides working on how he wants his charges to play, Mario said the players’ software should be aligned to professionalism and patriotism, two key elements that he believes can lead to success.
“And one of the last things, but you know, not the very last, in a way, at least is the players’ social life as they need to integrate into the preparation also, when they go home, their ability to prepare themselves to be professional,” he said.
“You know, you see, there’s a bit of time between being professional and professionalism. We want them to become professional because there’s nothing, you know, worse than for you to be paid to play football but actually to consider football like a gift.
“The thing is, you have to see that football is more like a religion, that you have to be very thorough and you have to come with your heart into it.
“Particularly when you play for the national team, you represent the country and, on the day, no one gives you a favour. You have to actually deserve to be there, because there are so many, so many Zimbabweans in the world that probably will give everything to fight for the country, to represent the country.”
Mario said he wants to see players putting their hands up and giving it their all to bring joy to the country.
“We look forward as much as possible to seeing these players putting a lot of energy into tomorrow’s match because they would have to show that they really want to win matches.
“Winning matches needs a lot of heart, you have to put in a lot of passion, you have to put in a lot of desire, and you have to put in a lot of hard work and determination,” he said.
“If you see a player that is hardworking and determined and he gives 100 percent, it’s not that easy.”
The Romanian also knows that it will not be easy tomorrow against a World Cup-bound Algeria who want to maintain the winning eight out of their 10 qualifiers, losing and drawing just once to top Group G.
In contrast, Nees’ Warriors finished bottom of Group C after a win-less run.
