THERE is something to smile about in our football after the Zifa normalisation committee appointed a coach we should believe in, in the form of 57-year-old Michael Nees of Germany.
Surely, Zimbabwe never wanted a high profile coach like Winfried Schafer because he has already made a name for himself and coming to Zimbabwe would have been for the money and also because he does not have a job.
Even Brazilian Marcio Maximo Barcelos would not have been a good choice for Zimbabwe because of our experience with Valinhos and that also coming on the background of history that Brazilian coaches have never been successful in Africa.
In fact, not even in Europe have South American coaches made an impression but in their own continent and to a lesser extent in Asia - and on that premise, Barcelos was not ours for the taking.
Although Nees does not have a well-documented history of success elsewhere or in Africa, Zimbabwe and the Warriors needed a coach they themselves would propel to stardom and in Nees the country seems to have found the man.
We should also be happy that Nees is coming from a country whose other coach the late Reinhard Fabisch gave Zimbabwe some of its proudest and happiest football moments.
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Those not in the know-how should be told that it was under Fabisch that Zimbabwe went for 13 unbeaten Afcon and World Cup matches and catapulted themselves to ninth in Africa on the Fifa world rankings.
Although not because of Fabisch, it was also during those Warriors' good days that Peter Ndlovu was rated the seventh best player in Africa while turning out for Coventry City in the English Premiership.
We should also not forget that Klaus-Dieter Pagels, who helped our Mighty Warriors qualify for the Olympic Games and also gave the Warriors a distinctive playing style also comes from Germany.
We cannot hide the fact that some of us wanted Baltermar Brito for the job but still thumbs up to the NC for coming up with what is probably their best coaching decision since assuming office in July 2023.
We saw them jump from Brito to Jairos Tapera via Norman Mapeza in a Luna-Park's 'Big Wheel' movement, which did not seem to have any direction at all and the results told it all.
The NC were under pressure to give the job to 74-year-old Schafer and every other Zimbabwean football follower also had his own choice but there could only be one Warriors coach and that is Nees and we have to live with that.
On that premise, it would be fair that the Zimbabwean football public gives Nees all the support he needs without putting pressure on him on which players to select and which ones to keep out.
We also hope that the NC will not impose on Nees local assistant coaches who have other agendas and should be advised against recycling the same old faces.
It is a fact that Zimbabwe is awash with football talent and Nees' biggest task would be how to mix Zimbabwe's huge talent of young players based abroad and the few available on the local market.
The 2026 World Cup seems a far-fetched dream but we can qualify for Afcon 2025 only if our players believe in themselves and in their own coach.
Cameroon have lost their way around African football, Kenya and Namibia have never been good, but we also need our National Sports Stadium to help us achieve our dream.
The future looks good.
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