‘Zim football 20 years behind’

Ricky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE is failing to qualify for major international tournaments because they play ancient football of the 90s, Zifa technical director Maxwell Jongwe has said.Jongwe said after analysing the 2014 Fifa World Cup played in Brazil it became clear that Zimbabwe’s football is 20 years behind.

The Zifa technical director believes that capacitating coaches through training clinics is the only route that can bring joy to the country’s football which is in the doldrums as the Warriors have been disappointing during international qualifiers.

“There’s a need to follow modern trends so that as a nation we develop with the rest of the world. A closer analysis of how teams played at the last Fifa World Cup held in Brazil shows that we’re 20 years behind when it comes to the football we play and the only way to close that gap is to equip our coaches with relevant knowledge and skills. Basically coaches are the drivers of football development and as long as they don’t keep abreast with the changes happening in the football world, we’ll continue lagging behind,” said Jongwe.

Already Zifa has rolled out training programmes to equip local coaches with 20 gaffers specialising in the juniors undergoing a Fifa/Cosafa workshop that started on Tuesday and ends on Sunday. Fifa instructors Govonden Thondo of Mauritius and South Africa’s Fran Hilton-Smith are conducting the clinic being held at a local hotel.

Jongwe said they will be holding a Caf A licence clinic which is the highest coaching qualification in Africa and Zimbabwe happens to be the fourth country to conduct the course after Zambia, Tunisia and Morocco.

The Caf A course set for Zifa Village in Harare will be held in two stages with the first module running from December 9-22 while the final module will be held from January 27 to February 6, 2015.

“As Zifa I must say we’re grateful to Fifa and Caf for these training programmes which help our coaches. Actually we’re are planning more high-profile clinics so that our coaches keep abreast with the changes in football. As it is we’ve invited local coaches who’re holders of Caf B to attend the Caf A course which starts in Harare next week. The challenge to coaches is to always strive to attain higher qualifications in order to develop one’s coaching career,” said Jongwe.

Among coaches expected to attend the Caf A clinic are Botswana based duo of Madinda Ndlovu and Philani Mabhena, ex-national Under-15 and Highlanders’ juniors coach Dumaza Dube, championship winning gaffer with Tsholotsho FC Lizwe Sweswe and some of the trainers who failed the last Caf A licence held between June and August.

Jongwe said first preference is being given to premiership coaches.

The last Caf A class had 29 coaches with about 10 coaches said to have failed.

Dynamos head coach Callisto Pasuwa, ZPC Kariba’s Saul Chaminuka, Taurai Mangwiro of Caps United, Botswana based duo of Rahman Gumbo and Barry Daka were part of the 29 mentors that attended the course.

The list also included former Chicken Inn and Railstars gaffer Mandla “Lulu” Mpofu who is presently with Bantu Rovers, How Mine’s Luke Masomere, Jairos Tapera (Shabanie Mine), Nation Dube (Hwange) and Bigboy Mawiwi formerly with Harare City among others.

The 2009 Coach of the Year Philani “Beefy” Ncube was also part of the pioneers of the Caf A licence.