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Lovemore Zigara Midlands Correspondent
THE Zifa technical committee which was set up by the football motherbody to provide technical expertise to the country’s national teams is now redundant amid revelations that the group last met in October 2012.The committee, which reports to the Zifa Board, was set up at the height of the failed 2013 Africa Cup of Nations campaign qualifiers whose finals were held in South Africa last year.
Their role was to help national team coaches by monitoring performances of players and recommending them and also to review the teams’ performances.
The national team coach, however, has the final decision on the issues which would have been deliberated upon and recommended.
Members of the committee include Benedict Moyo, who is the chairman, Gibson Homela, Cosmas Zulu and Bhekimpilo Nyoni.
Maxwell Takaendesa Jongwe replaced Nelson Matongorere as Zifa technical director though the association is yet to make a formal announcement.
Two years after the technical committee was set up, the committee, whose tenure expires at the end of July, had little input in the senior national soccer team’s 2015 Afcon campaign.
The Warriors crashed out of the qualifiers after losing 2-3 to minnows Tanzania in the preliminary stages.
Gorowa’s charges lost 0-1 in Tanzania before drawing two all with the Taifa Stars in Harare on Sunday quashing the nation’s hopes of an appearance at the Afcon finals to be held in Morocco.
Moyo confirmed that the technical committee had not been consulted prior to the latest Warriors fiasco adding that things could have turned out differently had they been consulted.
“It is true that we did not have any input into the national team’s preparations for the two matches they played against Tanzania. In fact the last time the technical committee was consulted was in October 2012 when the technical committee resolved to relieve Rahman Gumbo of his duties as national team coach.
“It is difficult to talk about these issues now especially in a situation like this when we have failed to qualify. We should not point fingers at anyone at the moment including the coach but I believe things would have turned out differently had the committee been engaged,” he said.
Efforts to get a comment from Zifa chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze were fruitless as his mobile phone was unreachable.
Football powerhouses such as Nigeria and Zambia have such structures which are used to monitor performances of players plying their trade locally and overseas and giving recommendations to the head coach.
South Africa reintroduced theirs which they had abandoned during the run up to the 2013 Afcon finals which the country hosted.
derick.khumalo