adminRaymond Jaravaza
HOT on the heels of firing coach Saul Chamunika, Border Strikers FC find themselves in a quandary with revelations that caretaker coach Never Malunga is not qualified to sit on the teama��s technical bench as head coach.
Malunga is a holder of a CAF C badge, making him eligible to sit on the technical bench only in an assistant coach capacity.
According to new minimum requirements tabled by ZIFA earlier this year, a head coach with a CAF B badge or better is eligible to sit on the technical bench.
As it stands Malunga is a�?uneducateda�� to take over Border Strikers.
a�?Malunga is a holder of a CAF C badge and we have hired him on an interim basis. The PSL should allow him to sit on the bench as a caretaker coach. Without mentioning names there are coaches that have similar qualifications to Never but are allowed to coach Premiership teams,a�? said Border Strikers secretary Rodlet Chigwinya.
The Border Strikers official said the club had not set a target for the man credited with driving the Beitbridge-based team into the Premiership from division one football last year.
a�?The coach understands the importance of winning matches to get the team away from the relegation zone so we have not set targets for him. He is a Border Strikers son who understands what the team means to the community of Beitbridge and as a club we will also assist him in attaining the required coaching badges,a�? he said.
Border Strikers are sitting at the bottom of the Premier Soccer League table with a partly three points and two goals from 11 matches.
In fact an individual player like Bruce Kangwa of Highlanders has scored more goals than the whole Border Strikers team combined.
Malunga says his first task is to improve morale in the team.
a�?Most teams are working on very tight budgets and ita��s understandable that the morale of our players is low. My immediate task is to get the players to believe in themselves, improve their morale and then take each game as it comes,a�? said Malunga.
Online Reporter