The Warriors' early exit from the Cosafa Cup which came hard on the heels of World Cup humiliation at the hands of Lesotho and South Africa has opened our eyes to where we truly belong in African football.
We might lie to ourselves and beat ourselves in the chest that we are among the elite in African football, but the truth is that Zimbabwe now ranks among the weakest teams in African football alongside the likes of Seychelles, Mauritius, Reunion, and Chad.
Forget about the Fifa rankings which place us at 129th in the world and 38th in Africa because that computer ranks teams according to information fed into it - some of which might not be accurate.
There was even a time when Tunisia stayed for months as Africa's number one team when events on the ground plainly told it all that Cameroon were the dominant force then.
Surely, how can we lie to ourselves that we are among the best in African football when our team, made up of the best from the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League could not beat an Under-23 team from Kenya?
Surely, how can we say we are among the best on the continent when our team loses 2-0 to, of all teams, a Lesotho side that goes on to be humiliated 3-1 by an Angolan Under-23 team, and not the senior Angola team — the Black Antelopes.
Even the seeding for the draw for Afcon 2025 confirmed how hard the Warriors have fallen as Zimbabwe was in Port Four ranked alongside South Sudan, Chad, Liberia, Botswana, Eswatini, Niger, the Gambia, Burundi, and Rwanda.
We can surely not ignore the connection between the Warriors' pedestal fall and the coming in on July 11, 2023, of the Zifa normalisation committee which did not have a clue on how to run a national football team.
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In fact, the one-year that the Lincoln Mutasa -led normalisation committee was in the office was probably the worst for the Warriors as they were forced to adjust to four different playing styles from the four coaches Sunday Chidzambwa, Baltemar Brito, Norman Mapeza, and Jairos Tapera, who were appointed during that space of a year.
Now that Fifa has re-appointed Mutasa, the Warriors' fall is likely to continue as Mutasa and Friends do not seem to have the slightest idea of how to run a national football federation.
In fact, the Zimbabwe football family feels betrayed by Mutasa's re-appointment and questions what Fifa saw in what the NC did over the past year to give them another six months in office.
This development seems to give weight to suspicions that it was not Mutasa but Fifa's Solomon Mudenge who was running Zifa and the Fifa man from Zimbabwe wants it to stay that way until January 31. 2025.
Mutasa and company were supposed to have facilitated the holding of Zifa elections by June 30 and they did not and what we know is that we are still where we were when Fifa appointed them.
What they only helped to do was to destroy Zimbabwean football by making confused decisions one day after the other and there is little hope that they will change.
As we look forward to Afcon 2025 where we are in the same group with Cameroon, Kenya, and Namibia, our road looks dark with more confusing coaching appointments in the offing from the NC.
Surely, what Fifa has done in bringing back Lincoln Mutasa and Rosemary Mugadza to the football headquarters is the greatest betrayal by Fifa to the Zimbabwean people.
- For your comments, views and suggestions mkariati@gmail.com or WhatsApp on 0773 266 779.
