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Lovemore Dube – Sports Editor
Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) boss Cuthbert Dube will meet Warriors coach Ian Gorowa this afternoon with a view to finalising his contract.
Dube confirmed yesterday that he is meeting the coach this afternoon. The meeting is on his contract and preparations for the match against Mauritius on Sunday in a Chan qualifier.
Gorowa, a former Black Rhinos, Dynamos and Warriors striker took over from Dieter Klaus-Pagels last week. This was just a few days before the Mauritius match which the Warriors won 3-0.
“I am going to meet Ian Gorowa with the Zifa chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze tomorrow (today). We are happy, he has made a good start with a young team and we hope to thrash out a number of things concerning his appointment. Obviously we are not happy with the high coach turnover at the Warriors and this time we hope we have got it right.“Another issue we will talk about is the return match against Mauritius. We want him to succeed so we will lay the foundation for him to work in a conducive environment and achieve for the nation,” said Dube.
Zimbabwe has had seven coaches since 2010 and several assistant coaches as well. Even the managers have not been spared the axe.
The Zifa chairman paid the Warriors allowances for the match against Mauritius parting with $15 000 and spending another $12 000 for air tickets to enable the team to travel.
With some members of the Zimbabwe Football Trust involved in elections, Zifa have not been able to get funding from the trust. Dube said for players to produce the results, they had to be paid their allowances.
“Some members of the Zimbabwe Football Trust are candidates of these elections and as a result soccer has taken a bit of a knock because of that.
Times have been tough for Zifa that I have had to fund some of the association’s activities like air tickets to Cosafa, Mauritius and the players’ allowances,” said the Zifa president.
Dube called on Zimbabweans to come in their numbers at Rufaro Stadium on Sunday. He said the first leg result was morale boosting and warned that Mauritius did not really paint the good picture about the team’s strength. He praised the young team assembled by Gorowa for the positive result and challenged them to go all the way and bring glory to the country.
“We are calling on the national team supporters to come in their numbers and support the team. This is a promising team of youngsters who are free from the Asiagate scandal and attach a lot of importance to the country and their careers.
“However we should not read much into the result. Mauritius’s profile in football is not so high so there is still a lot of work to be done,” Dube said.
He said a number of issues will be tabled for discussion at the Saturday board meeting in Harare among them Sunday’s game and the proposed new constitution.
Among some of the highlights in the new document that Fifa has okayed and sent back to Zifa will be that all 16 Premiership clubs will be members of the Zifa Assembly with their selected governors.
A new national Division One league will be established.
The Zifa Assembly will increase from 32 to 62 in the new constitution. Dube said as Zifa they were happy because the constitution was people driven.
“This was after a meticulous exercise that took suggestions from all over the country. The constitution is back from Fifa and they are happy with it and notably our Premiership will have their management committee and all 16 clubs sitting in the Assembly,” said Dube.
Online Reporter