FORMER Warriors coach Sunday Chidzambga’s hastily assembled team marked a return to the football family in style on Monday after defeating Namibia’s Brave Warriors 5-4 in a penalty shootout in a match that was part of President Emmerson Mnangagwa inauguration celebrations.

It was the first match to be played by the team since Fifa lifted the ban on Zimbabwe in July. Zimbabwe was banned by Fifa in February 2022 due to government interference in football matters.

In lifting the ban, Fifa appointed a normalisation committee led by Lincoln Mutasa to work on a roadmap to revamp Zifa.

The normalisation committee is yet to appoint a substantive coach for the Warriors having missed its self-imposed deadline of end of August.

Zimbabwe are fancying their chances of reaching the World Cup for the first time since the country’s independence in 1980 after being drawn in Group C alongside South Africa, Lesotho, Rwanda, Benin and Nigeria.

With just about two months left for Zimbabwe to start their campaign for the 2026 World Cup showcase scheduled for the United States, Canada and Mexico, we feel the appointment of a substantive coach is long overdue since he/she is key to the performance of the squad in the qualifiers starting on November 13.

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The new coach needs to acclimatise to local conditions, if a foreigner is picked for the job.

It is not only the issue of a coach the Warriors have to grapple with.

The other challenge is that they will play all their World Cup qualifiers away from home after the Confederation of African Football excluded the National Sports Stadium (NSS) from the list of pre-approved stadiums.

Zimbabwe should have utilised the ban to put its house in order in terms of bringing stadiums into line.

That opportunity was missed and the buck stops with the government.

This is embarrassing to say the least. Government had assured football lovers that NSS would be ready for the qualifiers.

The government knew the World Cup qualifiers were due and should have ensured that Warriors were well prepared to participate in the tournament.

It is not the issue of resources that left us in this mess. It is a question of prioritising those resources. Regrettably, those who were supposed to superintend over the renovations of NSS slept on the wheel, leading to the current mess.

Heads should roll for such a national embarrassment.

The Warriors are not a small team that begs for a venue.

Zimbabwe faces strong opponents in Nigeria and South Africa and the 12th man, supporters, is indispensable if we are to post good results.

The spin-offs to be realised from hosting such matches — hotel bookings and perception management — should not be ignored.