adminThe Zifa board met in the capital on Wednesday night and resolved to disband the senior team but only in as far as the players that did duty in the 2012 and 13 Nations Cup qualifiers are concerned.
Despite many people blaming Gumbo and his team’s technical shortcomings for the defeat in Angola, Zifa appear to believe that the players should shoulder the bulk of the blame for the back to back doomed campaigns which ended in similar and agonising fashion in Cape Verde last year and Luanda this year.
In asking Gumbo and his technical crew of David Mandigora and Peter Ndlovu to compile a report on the entire campaign beginning with the away game against Burundi in Bujumbura, Zifa gave the coach a stay of execution and instead consulted him on the way forward.
Gumbo appeared to have been swept by the tide at the board meeting but Zifa believe he has a role to play “in a fresh start for the Warriors that would be built around younger players’’.
Zifa president Cuthbert Dube, flanked by his deputy Ndumiso Gumede, chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze and Women’s Football boss Mavis Gumbo told a media briefing that the coach was still in his job but would be asked to assemble a new side “of clean and younger players’’.
A day after the board meeting, Rahman met Dube, Gumede and Mashingaidze and was reportedly told to compile a report that covers the entire campaign and also make his recommendations on a new start for the Warriors.
After failing to qualify for the Nations Cup, the Warriors now want to shift their attention to the resumption of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers as well as the qualifiers for the African Nations Championships scheduled for the same year.
The CHAN tournament is a less prestigious competition where only those players plying their trade in their domestic leagues are eligible to play.
Dube who also issued a public apology to the nation over the Warriors’ failure to qualify for South Africa 2013, said the local game’s character would be measured by its capacity to rise from the ashes from the Asiagate storm, corruption and poor governance.
The Zifa president acknowledged that his leadership could not continue to blame previous administrations without proffering solutions to the problems rocking the national game.
“The mark of a man is found more in his ability to rise from the ashes than his ability to delicately remain perched on the ivory tower. The resilience of our troubled game shall be measured in terms of our ability to rise from the ashes of the Asiagate scandal, bad governance, unbridled corruption and failure to qualify and win major tournaments.
“The nation is in mourning after the manifestation of the impact of the Asiagate scandal and the failure by our flagship team to qualify for the 2013 Afr said the national game needed a fresh impetus and that his association could not continue to cry over spilt milk.
But the Zifa president was also quick to clarify that the coach could recall all the players he feels still have a role to play in the national team but bias should be given to the younger players.
On Asiagate, Dube said Zifa would with effect from Monday have put in place an Appeals committee to handle the protests over the bans.
Zifa, Dube also said, had advised their affiliates to help in enforcing the bans which at the moment are only applying within the country and will only take a global effect once Fifa endorses the penalties.
Meanwhile, at the same event Dube announced 10-year bans for Zenzo Moyo, Clayton Munemo, Taurai Mangwiro and Bhekithemba Ndlovu formerly of Monomotapa FC.
Online Reporter