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Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
WARRIORS coach Callisto Pasuwa has paid tribute to businessman Philip Chiyangwa for helping avert a crisis in the senior team after the politician splashed $10 000 for the players’ outstanding allowances and bonuses ahead of their decisive African Nations Championships final qualifier against Lesotho tomorrow. The money was delivered to the Warriors late on Thursday amid indications that Chiyangwa has also pledged to “reward the team if they beat Lesotho again in the second leg’’.
The Warriors flew out at mid-morning yesterday via Johannesburg and Bloemfontein en-route to Maseru for the CHAN final qualifier, second leg tie against the Crocodiles at Sesotho Stadium. After arriving in Bloemfontein, Pasuwa’s men were expected to complete their journey with a road trip to Maseru.
But there had been genuine fears that the Warriors, who had gone on strike on Tuesday in protest against their outstanding allowances and bonuses which date back to the first round assignments against Comoros in June and July, would boycott the flight to Maseru.
With nothing concrete coming from ZIFA, coach Pasuwa ended up ordering the players back at training while their grievances were being addressed. The Warriors will arrive in Maseru carrying a comfortable 3-1 first leg lead.
“As a coach you always do your part to motivate the players, but as you know we also have some serious challenges whereby the players are owed money from previous assignments,” said Pasuwa. “So we always welcome the kind of support that has been extended to us by Dr Chiyangwa.
“We are indeed very grateful to him and the money has helped to avert the crisis we were facing in camp. “The players have assured me that they are ready for Sunday’s match. They also now understand the importance of qualifying for such tournaments like CHAN, because I have always said to them being at the CHAN opens doors for them to be spotted by scouts and if you recall, we had a number of players who secured professional contracts after last year’s CHAN tournament in Cape Town.”
The Warriors coach dropped four players — Hwange goalkeeper Takabva Mawaya, Triangle winger Marlvin Gaki, Highlanders midfielder Nqobizitha Masuku and Tsholotsho defender William Chitima — for tomorrow’s game.
“We have reviewed the first leg we played against Lesotho, and like I said they are good at keeping possession and also effective in central midfield and we would need to be more aggressive in our game.
“So we have tried to look at players who can give us more grit for this game and the pitch that we are going to play on (Sesotho artificial turf) is also heavier than Rufaro because it has more granules and that also influenced the way we planned our game,’’ Pasuwa said.
Pasuwa doesn’t want to become only the second coach — after veteran Gibson Homela in 2001 — to lose to the Crocodiles in 17 meetings between the two sides since their maiden clash on September 6 in 1981. Zimbabwe have won 13 of the encounters while the other three yielded draws and the Crocodiles have only one win to shout about.
Homela’s class of 2001 suffered the ignominy of being the only Warriors team to lose to Lesotho when they fell to a shock 2-1 defeat by the Crocodiles in an African Cup of Nations qualifier at Barbourfields.
The build-up of that match was blighted by a career-threatening injury to star midfielder Desmond Maringwa at training and bitter complaints of poor camping facilities by the Warriors. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Sport and Recreation yesterday took another dig at ZIFA after the association failed to raise money for the air tickets for the Warriors to travel to Lesotho.
Principal director in the ministry Bernard Dube said they had to run around to source funds for the Warriors and managed to get about $20 000 to ensure the senior team travelled to fulfil the fixture.
“This money is not coming from the ministry’s coffers, but we have received assistance from our friends. So I would like to thank the friends of the ministry for coming in to save the situation. “We always want our athletes to be in good spirits and to make sure that morale is high. It doesn’t augur well to hear time and again that our athletes are on strike over unpaid dues.
“As a ministry we have the obligation to make sure that all our teams fulfil international assignments. So we had to intervene in this case to ensure that the boys go to Lesotho but it’s not entirely the duty of the ministry to fund associations.
“They have to find their own ways and means to attract sponsorship and in this case ZIFA have proved beyond doubt that they have failed in that area,” said Dube. “Every time it’s only ZIFA and the problems in football that we are saddled with . . . We cannot afford to spend all our energies on ZIFA business, yet there are other many associations that also need attention.
“They should know that we are a Ministry of Sport and Recreation, not a Ministry of Football. If the people at the ZIFA offices are not capable of running things there, then there is need for new blood in football administration.
“These national teams are raising the flag high for the country and they need backing from the association. So we hope the boys are in good spirits now that they are travelling and we wish them well on their quest to qualify for the CHAN finals,” said Dube.
Online Reporter