malvernmugadzikwa
OUR Warriors will today make the trip to play at home in South Africa (weird, right?) in their World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and South Africa.
This is it!
This is where the rubber meets the road.
As has become the norm, the headlines in the period preceding the encounter(s) have been dominated by ZIFA, albeit this time in the form of the Normalisation Committee, which took its sweet time to announce the coach to take charge of the team.
The announcement of the team was also delayed.
It seems the new interim coach, Jairos Tapera, has his work cut out.
A lot will be expected from him.
He also has the unenviable task of working with the team for the first time this week and trying to forge a coherent unit that will hopefully get a result against the two sides.
Perhaps Tapera’s blessing in disguise is the fact that the games will be played in South Africa, away from the intimidating and pressure-cooker environment at home.
Local fans are a demanding lot.
Although the gaffer might be acquainted with the local players, it is likely to be the foreign contingent, particularly the British Brigade, that will give him migraines.
Shane Maroodza (Huddersfield Town, England), Brendan Galloway (Plymouth Argyle, England), Tawanda Maswanhise (Leicester City, England), Joey Phuthi (Sheffield Wednesday, England), Andy Rinomhota (Rotherham United, England), Tivonge Rushesha (Reading, England) and Tawanda Chirewa (Wolverhampton Wanderers, England) are all expecting to play.
Some of these chaps have taken the admirable and brave decision to play for their motherland, rather than try their luck with England, where a golden generation of emerging talent, such as Jordan Sancho, Bukayo Saka, Kobbie Mainoo and Jude Bellingham, make this prospect increasingly remote.
But one thing is for sure: They will not be expecting to fly close to 10 000 kilometres from their bases to warm the bench.
We all know what happened in Malawi, where then-interim coach Norman Mapeza was accused of not giving members of the British Brigade enough time to shine.
It culminated in that famous war of words between Mapeza and Udinese left-back Jordan Zemura, where the coach was also accused of poor player management and subjecting the team to military-type training.
We could all see that this had to do with game time. And now Tapera will have the onerous task of managing these egos, some of which will naturally be inflated, especially for some players who have been able to prove their worth in the highly competitive English Premier League.
Ordinarily, the coach’s job is simple — fielding the best 11 players he has at his disposal.
This is easier said than done, as assessments can be subjective.
Bra Shakes does not doubt Tapera’s pedigree as a coach and player manager.
For someone who works for Manica Diamonds, an ambitious side that has high expectations, he probably eats pressure for breakfast, but the national team is a different ball game altogether.
It carries the weight of expectations from more than 16 million Zimbabweans.
This assignment could either make or break him.
He simply has to be at his best or risk losing it all.
Losing against Lesotho would be embarrassing and losing against South Africa will be catastrophic.
It seems unfair, but it is what it is.
Tapera has no option, but to put on his big-boy pants and deliver.
It is show time.
Until next time.
Peace!
Yours Sincerely,
Bra Shakes.
Online Reporter