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Robson Sharuko-Senior Sports Editor
TRAGEDY, the shame and pain of being expelled, without kicking a ball, and the outbreak of a deadly virus, which shattered their confidence, for years.
And, to that cocktail of gloom, add the miserable statistics of just a single group stage victory, in the last 13 years.
As if each of those barren years represents every fan, who came to the National Sports Stadium, to support their cause on July 9, 2000, but didn’t return home, to tell their story.
Each of them now just a part of the past, the darkest chapter in the history of Zimbabwean sport, when disaster struck and transformed the giant stadium into a cage of death.
A grim reminder of the last time when Bafana Bafana were in town, and all the baggage that comes with it — the emotions generated by the fireworks of the Limpopo Derby, the passion triggered by a wave of patriotic sensors.
In more ways than one, in the past quarter-of-a-century, the World Cup qualifiers have not been kind to the Warriors.
Their story is one of failure, tragedy, punishment meted out on them, for the sins of their leaders at ZIFA, and a flirtation with some of the worst expatriate coaches ever hired, by African national football teams.
One of them was Jose Claudinei, a Brazilian gaffer also known as Valinhos, who was clearly out of depth, when it comes to the challenges of African football, he never settled here.
By the time he left, after two wasted years, he had led the Warriors to just one victory, a routine 2-0 win over Namibia at Rufaro which at best, was an insult to the tens of thousands of dollars, invested in his services.
And, at worst, a reminder of the inevitable disaster, which follows, when due diligence is not given priority, in the recruitment of such key personnel, for such important national posts.
Valinhos’ ghost would haunt the Warriors, for years to come, with matters coming to a head in 2015, when FIFA expelled the team, from the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
Repeated warnings from FIFA, between 2012 and 2015, for ZIFA to settle the US$67 000, which they owed Valinhos, or face expulsion from the World Cup qualifiers were, somehow, ignored. It was the lowest point, for the Warriors, in their romance with the World Cup.
And, the Valinhos storm had barely settled when it emerged Zimbabwe could be barred, from the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, if ZIFA failed to pay the US$180 000, owed to Tom Saintfiet.
That the Belgian gaffer only coached the Warriors for just a day, before being deported for working without a valid permit, put into perspective the huge cost that comes with poor decision making, when it comes to running national associations.
However, the intervention of a Good Samaritan, Wicknell Chivayo, who settled the full amount, in his role as a ZIFA benefactor, ensured the Warriors would not be barred, from two successive World Cups.
It’s a tournament which doesn’t have many happy memories, for the Warriors, in the past 25 years.
After all, they have only won just one World Cup qualifying group game, in the last 13 years.
That victory came at Rufaro on June 8, 2008, when Gilbert Mushangazhike’s brace powered them to a 2-0 win over Namibia.
Remarkably, if they beat Bafana Bafana on Friday, at the National Sports Stadium, it will only be their first World Cup group stage victory, in 11 games.
The Warriors have drawn four and lost six of their last 10 World Cup group qualifiers, since beating Namibia, in 2008.
But, none of those defeats can compare to the humiliation the Warriors suffered, two years ago.
They became the first country to lose a World Cup qualifier, to Somalia, in a 0-1 defeat, in Djibouti, in a preliminary round match.
A stunning late winner from Khama Billiat, in a 3-1 home victory, helped them make up for that away loss, and handed them a ticket into the group stages.
Nature hasn’t been kind to the Warriors, too, when it comes to the World Cup qualifiers.
An outbreak of Ebola, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, destroyed their ’96 Nations Cup qualifiers, with most of their first-team players, turning down the invitation, to play in Kinshasa.
A makeshift team, featuring only one of the regulars, was hammered 0-5.
The impact of that big defeat was felt, during the ’98 World Cup qualifiers, with the Warriors winning just one of their six group games.
And, ahead of their return to the World Cup qualifiers group games, after an eight-year absence, the Warriors will have to play without many of their regular players, because of Covid-19 complications.
It’s not been an easy ride for them, both on and off the pitch and, as if the football gods are teasing us, our opponents have to be Bafana Bafana.
The team which provides us with a throwback to the best of times, represented by the high point of that four-goal thrashing of these South Africans, when Shoe-Shine football suffered a still birth.
That was 29 years ago.
It’s also a throwback to the worst of times, represented by the low point of that abandoned match, amid chaos and death, when Bafana Bafana found a way to silence us, in the very place we call our football cathedral.
That was 21 years ago.
The difference, in years gives us eight years — exactly the time we have been away from the World Cup group stage qualifiers.
Online Reporter