Moyo defends decision

last weekend.

Moyo was head of the delegation and he was part of the group of officials, including assistant coaches Lloyd Mutasa and Peter Ndlovu, who were left stranded in the Senegalese capital Dakar on Saturday.

Acting team manager Patrick Mutesva and chef Paradzai Manjonjo were also left stranded in Dakar.
This crew of five officials watched the match between Zimbabwe and Guinea on television, from Senegal, having wasted resources boarding a plane at Harare International Airport when they were fully aware their flight from Dakar to Conakry wasn’t confirmed.

The whole episode appears to have disturbed coach, Klaus Dieter Pagels, who decided to fly to Germany rather than, as originally scheduled, fly back with the rest of the Warriors’ squad to Harare.

Reports yesterday said Pagels will only be back here next week but why the coach decided to make an unplanned return to Germany, when his return ticket to Harare had been secured, will only deepen the mystery.

Pagels was unhappy with the way Zifa handled this trip and he must have been livid, on return to Dakar, to find himself and his players stranded at the airport, without visas to enter Senegal, when they were spending more than 10 hours there.

Reports emerged yesterday that Pagels has been preparing for his return home to Germany after July as, contrary to what has been said by Zifa officials, he hasn’t been offered a deal to continue as the Warriors’ coach.

The Warriors returned home yesterday after losing their third straight match in a horror World Cup qualifier, their worst campaign for a place at the globe’s biggest football festival.

But why did Moyo, as head of delegation, insist that those, whose flight from Dakar couldn’t be confirmed, board the Kenya Airways plane from Harare to Nairobi on Saturday morning?

Yesterday, Moyo said they were given false assurance that they were likely to secure seats on the flight from Dakar to Conakry even when their tickets had not been confirmed.

“From the arrangements, I had been told, as the head of delegation, that all was in order but when we got there they said six tickets were not confirmed and it became a struggle,” said Moyo.

“We tried to push with the Dutch Airlines up to 3pm on Sunday because we were now trying to change things around.

“Our travel agent insisted all was in order and it was beyond us now. Look, if we knew that our flights were not going to proceed then we could not have gone. It’s not a nice thing to stay in a foreign country at the airport.

“Senegal, remember, is a security risk area at the moment and they don’t allow people around.
“They had to hold on to our passports for us to go into town and it was around 3am in the morning on Sunday. We had to sleep on the benches until some letters were done. Our embassy played a great part.

“For the players to get into town on Sunday we also had to go through a rigorous process which took us about four hours for them to be cleared because we didn’t have the visas. These things were way beyond our control.

“Yes, we understand people will say this and that. We appreciate because at the end of the day the buck stops with us at Zifa.”

Moyo said he was impressed by the big heart shown by the team.
Zimbabwe travelled with a depleted squad of 14 players led by their coach Pagels who sat on the bench with medic Farai Muguwu.

Zimbabwe remained rooted at the bottom of the table with a single point from five games in the qualifiers.
Moyo said he was also not amused by the way things turned out after they had been assured by the secretariat, led by chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze, that things were under control.

“We knew about this game last year and in our plans we had been assured that everything was on course. So I was surprised at the last minute when I was told things were not in order,” said Moyo.

“But from last year we were being told that everything was on course. It’s the same with that game we played away in Egypt, we were told arrangements were fine and it was so.

“As board members we were working with that assumption and this is why I am saying things were mixed up at the last minute.

“We are still to have a meeting as a board to report back on the issue and to find out exactly where we went wrong.” Zimbabwe international midfielder Tafadzwa Rusike yesterday said the Warriors played their hearts out despite the administrative bungling that characterised their trip.

The team was supposed to leave on Wednesday last week but the journey was postponed by a day after failing to secure enough air tickets.

Chief striker Knowledge Musona withdrew due to injury so did defender Patson Jaure and midfielder Ovidy Karuru. Hardlife Zvirekwi, who was set to play on the right side of the defence, was left behind after losing his passport.

“I think we did well under the circumstances. We fought hard but it was very difficult out there since it was very hot in Guinea. We struggled to adjust to the conditions especially in the first half,” said Rusike.

“The spirit was great before we went to Guinea. Everyone wanted to play but it’s unfortunate some of our players were injured before the trip. But that did not kill the spirit. We pushed ourselves to the limit.

“We didn’t travel well but we managed to play a decent game. We were supposed to lose by a bigger margin like 3-0 or five but we pushed ourselves hard and with all the efforts, it was unfortunate that we conceded.”