Chronicle Editor
Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
ON Monday, the Warriors staged a memorable comeback in an Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) 2021 qualifier against continental champions Algeria, coming from 2-0 to draw 2-2.
It was a remarkable feat, as very few gave Zimbabwe a chance considering that the Desert Foxes are littered with experienced players plying their trade abroad.
Warriors’ first leg 3-1 defeat in Algeria made them underdogs for the return fixture in Harare.
The one point gained against Algeria meant Zimbabwe stayed on position two with five points from four games in their group that has Botswana (4) and Zambia (3). Algeria with 10 points have already secured a ticket to the finals.
In an open group, Zimbabwe have to beat Botswana (away) and Zambia at home if they are to make it to the finals.
It’s not an easy ask for the Warriors who showed big hearts as they fought for the valuable point and refused to be cowed down at their backyard.
Remember, as we have become accustomed to, the Warriors didn’t have the best of preparation.
While celebrating the valuable point against Algeria, there were some who were not happy with the selection criteria, in particular the inclusion of clubless Ovidy Karuru.
How midfielder King Nadolo and goalkeeper Talbert Shumba made it into the final squad when coach Loga had said no locally based players will be called for duty since they have been inactive, remains a mystery.
These are the kind of decisions that lead people to believe that maybe some individuals within the technical department are being paid by players to be selected.
There are also agents that are said to be having technical team members of the Warriors in their pockets.
Unscrupulous agents are said to have spread corruption to junior national teams, influencing selection.
A few weeks back, there was a storm arising from questionable callups for the Under-17 Cosafa team, where Bulawayo based juniors were overlooked for camp.
This is despite the fact that Bulawayo has a vibrant junior league and what the national team selectors would have done since there were no games this year because of Covid-19 was to reach out to their peers so that they recommend youngsters.
It’s not a secret that Bulawayo has vibrant and organised junior structures that makes easy for coaches to identify players.
In the midst of overlooking Bulawayo junior players, a Hwange boy, Claivert Tshuma was been controversially dropped from the Zimbabwe Under-17 national side.
Tshuma is alleged to be over 17 years following the results of a Magnetic Resonance Imaging scan whose outcome allegedly showed that he was above 17 years. The physical results were however not shown to Tshuma, raising suspicions that there were tampered with so that ‘preferred’ boys will be accommodated for the trip down South. A member of the technical team said Tshuma was an automatic starter because of his talent and work rate.
But all this hullabaloo on selection of players can be avoided if there are tracking systems that cannot be manipulated.
“Everything boils down to proper selection system that is done or led by the coach. During my days as Under-17 coach, I’ll make initiatives to have the best provincial players playing against each other and select players. That way, each province brought their star players and it eliminated an element of bias selection where a majority of players say come from one area, overlooking others.
“Also, I think for Under-17 players one should be backed by a school because those are school going footballers.
You’ll have a player coming from such and academy knowing he’s from a certain school,” said Rodwell Dhlakama, Ngezi Platinum Stars coach.
He noted with concern that coaches who want results and junior level were major culprits in age cheating.
“I feel sorry when a youngster is said to have doctored his documents. There’s no way that a youngster can willfully change his age and documents without assistant of someone. Those people who engage in such activities must stay away from the game,” said Dhlakama. — @ZililoR
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