Zifa warns Young Mighty Warriors of tough time in Nigeria

assignments, the association would not reciprocate the diabolical acts on any side that visits Zimbabwe.
The Young Mighty Warriors are scheduled to fly out this morning for a Fifa Women Under-20 World Cup qualifier against the Falconets in Nigeria on Saturday.
Zifa are, however, worried that there has been very little information flowing from their hosts about where they will be accommodated once they arrive in Lagos.
But the association yesterday maintained that they were becoming used to incidents where West and Central African nations play dirty psychological games before the matches.
The local soccer mother body instead believes they should continue making noise in the Confederation of African Football’s corridors for the continental body to “give all member nations equal treatment and protect all the teams’’.
Zifa castigated Caf for not exercising a fair hand when dealing with its member associations, accusing the continental body of being biased against mainly Southern African nations.
But Zifa ruled out employing the same dirty tricks on teams that will visit Zimbabwe with the association’s president Cuthbert Dube arguing that it is not in the nature of Zimbabweans to throw away the tenets of good governance and hospitality and retaliating.
Dube said Zifa would continue to follow the procedures and house visiting teams in standard accommodation that is acceptable by Caf and Fifa standards.
The Zifa boss, however ,suspects that the Young Mighty Warriors, bidding for a maiden appearance at the Fifa World Cup could become the latest local side after Premiership champions Dynamos to be ill-treated on their continental sojourn.
Dynamos last week complained bitterly that they had been denied food by Liga Muculamana when they visited the Mozambican giants for a Champions League first round, first led tie in Maputo which ended in a 2-2 draw.
Last month the Warriors were also booked in a sub-standard lodge in Burundi which was disguised a hotel while in the same month the Young Mighty Warriors could not access a training ground and were also booked into a low class lodge in Maputo.
Dube, speaking at a send-off function for coach Langton Giwa and his charges, said it was imperative that the Young Mighty Warriors do not allow any hostile reception to distract them from their mission which is to secure a result in the 90 minute battle at the MKO Abiola Stadium.
“As Zifa we are aware of the conditions that prevail for our away teams and not only the Mighty Warriors teams.
“You may have heard what happened with FC Platinum and Hwange, especially FC Platinum who were forced to play away from Zvishavane even after all efforts had been made to fly the El Merreikh delegation.
“Just be positive in the way you approach the game. Don’t worry if they treat you badly, you would be back in a few days and you should just be worried with the 90 minutes of play and win or force a draw,” said Dube.
Dube said it was unfortunate that teams from Southern Africa continued to receive a raw deal in the manner their cases are handled by Caf.
“We will write a strong letter to Caf because we feel this is not for development of football.
“We are not going to rest on this one we will keep on pressing and I will keep on making noise even on the Caf committee that I sit, not just for Zimbabwe but for the good of the game.
“We have nothing to lose by pointing out our genuine concerns to Caf because it is our mandate to protect the interests of our teams’’.
Zifa, Dube said, would continue to support the Young Mighty Warriors.
Giwa and captain Tafadzwa Tsungura also promised that they would bring a positive result from Nigeria.
But for all the fears of a hostile reception Dube insisted it would not be right for Zifa to retaliate.
“Two wrongs do not make a right. I have heard a lot of people asking me why we do not do the same and treat some of these teams badly.
“We are not being passive, we are just trying to teach good corporate governance to Africa.
“It may take time but the truth of the matter is that eventually they will learn.
“This country also has sophistication and we will not go down the ladder to the level of those who ill-treat us or give us stone age treatment, we are above that and we hope that in the end those who practice that will learn,’’ Dube said.
Dube also expressed optimism that the Asiagate and Centralgate chapters would have been closed by the by the end of next month to allow Zifa to focus on other football matters.
“They (Justice Ebrahim committee) have done about 85 percent of the job and by end of April they should have finished their report.
“I am hoping to receive an interim report by around 16 April.
“The nation is anxious, those that were implicated would like to know their fate but we felt we could not rush this committee because they are doing a thorough and professional job.
“Centralgate is also winding up and I am sure by next week they would have finished, their last leg is in Manicaland,’’ Dube said.