CHARLES MABIKA BLASTS ZIFA SOME of the decisions that come out of 53 Livingstone Avenue never cease to amaze me! The recent decision by Zifa – as sanely argued by Zimbabwe’s Under-23 head coach, Kallisto Pasuwa – to play a friendly match against Swaziland, whom we will face soon in All-Africa Games Under-23 and African Under-23 Youth Championship qualifiers, boggles the mind. The friendly is scheduled for Somhlolo Stadium in Mbabane on Wednesday evening. Pasuwa’s argument is that Swaziland’s real intention is to have a closer look at our team and assess the kind of Under-23 players that we have so that they can plot against us accordingly. How right is he! Manabhunu further pointed out that Zifa made the same decision when they agreed to play a friendly against Tanzania shortly before we met them in a 2015 Afcon two-legged qualifier. And, yes, you do remember don’t you, what happened? The Euro 2016 qualifiers resumed on Thursday with former world champions, Spain crashing to a 1-2 shock defeat at the hands of Slovakia whilst Sweden drew 1-1 with Russia. Now, do you think that Spain’s coach, Vicente del Bosque or his counterparts, Jan Kozak (Slovakia), Erik Hamren (Sweden) and Fabio Capello (Russia) would have agreed to play each other before those crucial clashes? Not a chance! Zifa have advised Pasuwa not to waste time “complaining” and carry on with the business of selecting his side because they contend that they have already agreed with the National Football Association of Swaziland to fulfil the tie. It’s all fine to make use of the Fifa international friendly dates but shouldn’t the person or persons at Zifa House have conferred with Pasuwa and his technical team about the impending fixture right from the start? Or is it – as alleged – a question of the “dangling carrot” offered by Swaziland – that of paying for the Young Warriors air fares, accommodation and everything else – that had Zifa scrambling over each other in accepting the invitation? Don’t get me wrong. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with playing against a much improved Sihlangu national side but like I said, we’ll be playing against them again in more competitive ties pretty soon, won’t we?
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 08:54:25 +0000
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