THE country’s representatives in the Caf Confederation Cup Dynamos were just 90 minutes from qualifying for the group stages of the competition before crashing out after losing 3–1 on penalties to Orapa United of Botswana at Obed Itani Chilume Stadium in Francistown on Sunday.
The match had ended 1–1 on aggregate after two legs played at the same stadium.
Dynamos won the first leg, which was their away match, 1–0 and lost the home match by an identical scoreline before the tie was decided through a penalty shootout.
After the loss, DeMbare coach Lloyd Chigowe bemoaned missed chances as well as having to play both matches at Orapa United’s home ground.
“So at the end of the day, we have ourselves to blame. But also we played both matches away from home. That’s a big disadvantage. We played in the lion’s den twice and we lost. If we had played one of the matches at home, I am sure the outcome would have been different,” he said.
DeMbare’s predicament was brought about by the fact that the country does not have Fifa/Caf-certified stadiums, where the team can host international games.
As such, the men’s national team has had to find a home outside the country and has so far used stadiums in Rwanda, Uganda and South Africa.
The Glamour Boys preferred Botswana as their home and it worked in their favour when they played Zambian side Zesco United in the first preliminary round of the Caf Confederation Cup.
Ngezi Platinum Stars used the Heroes Stadium in Lusaka, Zambia, for their short-lived Caf Champions’ League campaign.
But the Glamour Boys were ill-advised to play both matches in Botswana against a side from Botswana at a crucial stage of the competition, where home advantage would have been important.
In the end, Dynamos missed out on the US$400 000 to payout for reaching the group stages, and it would have been good publicity for local football had they qualified after two years of Fifa suspension.
However, in all this, the government has shown little impetus to ensure that the country has at least one Fifa/Caf-approved stadium after National Sports, Rufaro and Barbourfields stadiums were condemned.
While the National Sport Stadium has been closed for renovations since the start of the year, work has been progressing at snail’s pace.
Last week, Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion minister Mthuli Ncube gave a gloomy update on the giant facility.
The government targeted to complete the renovations by the end of year, but it looks like it will take longer, with only US$3,8 million of the total US$25 million budget having been paid to contractors.
A huge chunk of US$17,5 million is yet to be contracted.
Contracted work includes areas such as water reticulation, installation of the security systems such as the VOC [venue operations centre], CCtv and access control equipment as well as the ticketing system.
No update was given on bucket seats.
Rufaro stadium is far from attaining Caf certification after it was opened to local games this season.
Harare mayor Jacob Mafume is adamant that the next stage of the renovation will uplift Rufaro Stadium to international standards, but there is no set timeline.
A Caf inspection report earlier in the year concluded that several areas in both stadiums (Rufaro and NSS) require redo in accordance with the Caf requirements, indicating that the stadiums must be totally revamped and redesigned to match modern football stadium standards.
It means after all the effort made to upgrade the facilities, they may still fail to meet minimum international standards.
And meanwhile, just like Dynamos and Ngezi Platinum Stars, The Warriors may ultimately pay the price of playing home matches away from home in the Africa Cup of Nations and World Cup qualifiers for the foreseeable future.