Warriors night out

Rufaro, Zifa have revealed that the Southern African derby will now be a night game.
The Battle of the Zambezi clash, in which both sides are set to field strong teams, will kick off at 7pm.

Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze said yesterday they had resolved to stage the match under floodlights, which will give an opportunity to the working class to all watch the mid-week encounter.
Mashingaidze said the move was also in line with the international trends where midweek games are played at night.

“We want to afford all the soccer loving people a chance to watch this important match which our Warriors are using as part of their build up for another important assignment against Liberia and therefore the match will be played under floodlights.
“The world over midweek games are staged in the night so that families can also come and watch, we risk having just school children watching such games if they are played in the afternoon when many people will still be at work,” Mashingaidze said.

The Warriors, for whom coach Norman Mapeza has named a 20-man side, are expected to start trooping in on Monday morning with the Chipolopolo delegation also expected to fly in later at night on the same day.
Skipper Method Mwanjali will lead the Warriors.

Mashingaidze also said Zifa, who are not taking chances ahead of the resumption of the Warriors’ 2012 African Cup of Nations, had decided to have pre-sale tickets for the Group A qualifier against Liberia at the National Sports Stadium on September 4.
“Pre-sales for the Liberia match will start on August 20 because we want to avoid selling tickets on match day.

“We are expecting a bigger crowd than the one that watched our last game against Mali at Rufaro and for security reasons we have had to move back to the more spacious National Sports Stadium,” Mashingaidze said.
The Zifa chief executive also spoke about the Warriors 2014 World Cup qualifying draw, which he described as a “de javu of the national team’s Dream Team era”.

Zimbabwe were drawn in Group G together with Egypt, Guinea and either of Comoro Islands or Mozambique for the first round of the qualifiers.
Mashingaidze believes the task that Mapeza and his men face is not insurmountable and said the association would do all within their capacity to ensure the Warriors are adequately prepared and funded.

South American country Brazil will host the 2014 edition of the global soccer showcase but for the Warriors to even dream of a ticket to Rio de Janeiro, they have to clear the first major hurdle posed by the Pharaohs, Sylie Nationale and any of Comoros or the Mambas of Mozambique.

Mashingaidze reckoned that the draw conducted by Fifa in Brazil last Saturday re-lived the days of the Dream Team when the Warriors, then under the guidance of late firebrand German coach Reinhard Fabisch, played both Egypt and Guinea in a fairy-tale campaign for the 1994 World Cup.

“The 2014 World Cup draw sounds like de javu of the Dream Team days.
“If it may be recalled that during the Dream Team era, we beat both Egypt sand Guinea at the National Sports Stadium and we believe that the war cry for the upcoming campaign is that we must bag maximum points at home and try to grind out results away.

“It is a balanced group in that it has got different styles, that is North African football, the West African game and Southern Africa.
“Now what we need is the critical path and set up a consortium that can mobilise resources from both the government and corporate world,” Mashingaidze said.

The Warriors’ World Cup qualifying bid, Mashingaidze also said, should not be viewed as just a Zifa challenge “but a task for the entire nation”, as there a number of crucial issues that needed to be addressed in order for the team to be fully prepared and focussed.

“I want to reiterate that this campaign is not a Zifa campaign only but it is for the whole country.
“We need to resource the technical department in order for them to have chance for surveillance not only on their players but even the opposition and that means the coaches getting a chance to travel to make the assessments.

“I think it is also time that we roped in our talent that is in the Diaspora… countries like Guinea have relied on such talent, calling on all their players in countries like France, Belgium or Switzerland.
“We have a lot of young Zimbabwean players who are at First or Second Division clubs in Europe who can be useful to our cause”.

Mashingaidze said although the Warriors were currently focussing on their bid to qualify for the 2012 Nations Cup, the preparations for the World Cup also needed to start in earnest.
“I think even the fans should play their part by continuing to come in large numbers and it is time that we should rekindle the National Sports Stadium as our Theatre of Dreams with the supporters turning the stadium into a sea of green and gold.

“The issue of national identity on the part of our supporters is key and as Zifa we would want them to have the right replicas and not having some of them wearing Bafana Bafana, German or England jerseys.

“The supporters should now have international chapters so that when we go to Guinea or Comoros there will be fans there and there will be a lot of noise and colour displaying Zimbabwe’s identity,” said Mashingaidze.