There is something that we find funny with our football leaders in the Zifa normalisation committee — that is keeping a secret of who has been picked to play for the Zimbabwe national team for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
In fact, everything the NC has done is a secret. The national team players are a secret.
The Zifa election roadmap is a secret and everything the NC has touched is a secret.
One football analyst even jokingly said Zimbabweans will only come to know of their Warriors one day before match day against Lesotho.
Even right now, nobody, —except the NC and their associates — knows when the national team will get into camp with indications that it will be a few days before June 7 when the Warriors face the Likuenas of Lesotho.
We find all this funny because from the look of things, the Zimbabwe national soccer team and Zimbabwean football as a whole are now being run like a private entity of the NC rather than that of the people of Zimbabwe.
What has prevented the NC from making the Warriors players public two weeks or so after the team for the Lesotho and South Africa adventure was selected?
Surely, where will the supporters get the excitement to go out and raise funds to travel to South Africa to watch their team play when they do not have the slightest idea as to who will represent them in the two 2026 World Cup Qualifiers.
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Speculation could have been avoided had the NC done the simplest thing of announcing the team long back in the same way that Lesotho and South Africa did.
The question is: Why has the NC made the Warriors look like a gold mine hidden elsewhere to the extent of forcing football fans to lose interest in a team they used to beat their drums for, sing and dance for with pride?
Surely, the end of the European and the English football season had presented Zimbabwe with the opportunity to gather its players in camp in time even if it meant temporarily under the guidance of Chemi Hunidzarira, the Zifa technical director.
This would have offered the players the perfect opportunity to build an atmosphere of friendship and camaraderie so that when the coach arrives, the team would be more like a one family.
Sadly, though, our old fashioned football leaders do not know that football is played even before match day itself and are still insistent on grouping the Warriors after June 1 although the exact date is still a secret.
Surely, confidence, morale and team spirit are built in camp and the game itself is the day to see whether the labour invested finally yields the required results.
So far, our preparations have been the worst in history.
Fine, it would be good to be expectant but should we blame the Warriors or the coach if they lose both matches or draw with Lesotho and lose to South Africa under the current circumstances?
Will we give the NC the thumbs up if the Warriors collect six points under the current circumstances?
Surely, the road to these 2026 World Cup Qualifiers has been not only bumpy, but rocky and the NC will take the blame for failure but no credit should the Warriors succeed.
*For your views, comments and suggestions mkariati@gmail.com or WhatsApp on 0773 266 779.
