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Ray Bande in MUTARE and Robson Sharuko in HARARE
WARRIORS’ caretaker coach, Jairos Tapera, says he will name players to feature in World Cup qualifying matches in South Africa today.
But, this appears like a reality TV show and a major deception to try and hoodwink the nation that he is the one in charge of the selection of the players.
The Manica Diamonds coach will lead Zimbabwe against Lesotho in Johannesburg on June 7 and South Africa in Bloemfontein four days later. “I think we will able to announce the names in the squad that will do national duty in South Africa tomorrow (today) by the end of the day.
“If all goes according to plan, we should be able to finish the task by then,” said Tapera.
But, this all sounds like HUGE DECEPTION.
For right now, Tapera cannot call a player from any professional club in the world and get him released for the two matches against Lesotho and Nigeria.
The time frame, between now and the release period for players called for those two matches is too short for Tapera to call a player, and satisfy all the requirements, for that player to be released for national duty.
According to FIFA rules and regulations, the clubs, where those players are based, should have been advised of that call-up, at least, TEN days before the day they are set to travel home for international matches.
The travel date for players, during a FIFA international window, is the Monday in which that window opens which, in this case, is June 3.
Any communication between ZIFA, and the clubs which own these players, should have been, at least, 10 days before June 3.
The last date for such communication, to advise the clubs of the players who have been called for national duty, should have been Friday, May 24.
“For international windows, players must be released and start the travel to join their representative team no later than Monday morning and must start the travel back to their club no later than the next Wednesday morning following the end of the international window,” reads the FIFA rules and regulations.
“CLUBS SHALL BE INFORMED IN WRITING OF A PLAYER’S OUTBOUND, AND RETURNS SCHEDULE, TEN DAYS BEFORE THE START OF THE RELEASE PERIOD.”
This means that the squad, which Tapera is likely to name today, was probably not selected by him.
He was only named Warriors coach last Friday and by then the window for him to select the players, and get them released by their clubs within the stipulated period as demanded by FIFA, had already closed.
ZIFA might have selected the squad, as they did with the team which went for the Four Nations tournament in Malawi, but that, too, will lead to questions as to how Tapera can be held responsible for the players he did not select.
Online Reporter