He was marvelling at the telepathic combination between Stanford Mutizwa and Joel Shambo. The two remain some of Zimbabwe’s best ever midfielders, whose quality remains unmatched by many of the so-called gifted players of today.
In a recent interview, Mutizwa, who starred as linkman for Caps United and Black Rhinos in his heyday, blames the country’s dearth of talent on lack of continuity, which has seen vast talent going to waste.
Apparently, this is an off shoot of ZIFA’s failure to govern because it is being led by people who “have no football history at all”.
“We need to take a cue from the Zambians who entrusted their highest office of football to Kalusha Bwalya, a great footballer during his time and eventually, they became African champions,” said Stix. “Bwalya has taken all the bruises in the game and knows the basics needed for a nation to succeed in the sport.”
For the Warriors to succeed, ZIFA should revisit the five-year development plan that resulted in the “Dream Team” era of the 1990s. “In the 80s, when Ben Koffie was still the Warriors’ head coach, he had a technical team of about 10 football legends, who would sit down and help him plan for matches, an initiative which has since gone down the drain.
“Koffie introduced a policy through which junior national teams were kept together, from the Under-16 till graduation into the senior team. That gave birth to the Dream Team, although Reinhard Fabisch was credited for its success,” he said. Mutizwa also attributed South Africa’s triumph as hosts of the 1996 Afcon finals to its ability to blend former footballers with the technical department as its supporting team.
“Although Clive Barker was head coach, his backroom staff comprised Zimbabweans like Shepherd Murape and Peter Nyama and they lifted the trophy. Here the coaches are sometimes overburdened, hence their lack of the technical acumen required at certain levels of the game. An example is what recently happened when the Warriors lost Angola,” said Mutizwa.
Post published in: Football