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J.B Chikanya Special Correspondent
WHEN he de-planed recently, from the disastrous trip to Senegal, the ZIFA chairman, Job Kadengu, was a bundle of fury.
He huffed and puffed, charging that our national team had lost because the officials, who managed the game, were biased.
There might have been some element of bias, but the margin of defeat (0-3) clearly shows that we richly deserved to lose and the better team won.
It is known in psychology that scapegoating is a characteristic of all losers.
But, if our team wants to continue playing international games, and to win, we must outgrow the pristine scapegoating defence mechanism, and face reality squarely.
We must put our house in order.
The outstanding fact, which sticks out like a sore thumb, is that we have no national football team in Zimbabwe.
Instead, we have a motley collection of the best players from various clubs whom we myopically call a ‘’team.’’
They are not a team because they hardly train together and they lack the team spirit, discipline, loyalty and patriotism.
It is true that we have good players but a poor national team.
They are individual players who play individual football and not team football.
Since they are not a team, they cannot develop some modus operandi of their own and mutual anticipation, which provides the X-Factor that wins games when two super teams meet.
The real reason why we have no national team lies in the attitude of our football officials, and players, to international games.
They (international games) are treated with flippancy and levity.
It is the league matches that are regarded as important and training for the league games is a matter of life and death.
But, training for the international matches is not important and one goes to train only when one has time to spare.
This is a disturbing peculiarity of Zimbabweans.
Our values are upside down.
We are our own enemies, we actively participate in our own vanquishment, the sad thing is that we are not aware of it and befuddled by the exuberance of our narcissistic complacence.
In any other country, the national team is “THE TEAM.’’
Players are heavily penalised if they fail to turn up for training, without good reason.
The highest goal for any club player is to wear the national colours and represent one’s country in international matches.
Governments take particular interest in the national team and they do not leave the organisation, and training of the team, entirely to private enterprise.
Just a few years ago, one African President sent the entire national team to prison because they had lost a match.
I mention this to underline the seriousness with which other countries regard international football matches.
Indeed, it is a national disgrace to lose such international matches, it humiliates the nation and destroys our national pride.
Of course, there are some people, without national pride.
They are blessed because they are saved from humiliation, and embarrassment, when our national team loses.
Judging by their complacent attitude to international football, one can say that our soccer officials and players lack national pride.
Something must be done to inculcate that national pride, and patriotism, which induces one to fight, and even die, for one’s country.
I am not as parochial as to suggest that we should win all the time.
That is not possible!
But, because we have a stronger economy and a bigger country, we should beat smaller countries, with smaller budgets, than ours.
There is something peculiarly lacking in us when we are beaten by such a country like Senegal.
We have to face the naked fact that we were beaten fairly.
We failed to beat them in Harare, therefore, it was clear that we were going to be thoroughly thrashed in Dakar.
The goal we scored in Harare was accidental, because it was deflected to Stanley Nduduma by the referee.
It was a technical goal, not a standard one, it means in reality, the match in Harare ended in a deadlock.
For that Dakar match, the writing was on the wall for our hotchpotch so-called national team.
We should not blame the coach, Wieslaw Grabowski, because even the best coach in the world, a miracle performer, cannot train absent players, just like a teacher cannot teach a student who does not come to class.
The fault lies in us, not in our stars.
Unless we take international soccer seriously, we shall continue to be objects of humiliation, even by mini-states of the world.
Senior Sports Editor’s Notes
This article by J. B. Chikanya appeared in The Sunday Mail column, “Talking Point,’’ on September 15, 1985, after the Warriors crashed to a 0-3 defeat to Senegal in Dakar, in a ’86 AFCON qualifier, with Jules Bokande scoring a hat-trick.
While Senegal have become a major African football power today, it wasn’t the case in the ‘70s and ‘80s and the Lions of Teranga failed to qualify for the AFCON finals between 1968 and 1985, with their qualification in ’86, ending a 16-year wait.
That qualification marked only the third time the Senegalese made it to the AFCON finals, with the first time having come in 1965, and the second time coming in 1968.
The size of Senegal is 196 722 square kilometres and it’s a smaller nation compared to Zimbabwe, whose size is 390 757 square kilometres.
In 1985, the population of Senegal was about six million people while the population of Zimbabwe was about 8.877 million people.
Online Reporter