“We have abundant talent compared with other African countries, but the way our local game is collapsing is unacceptable,” said the former national team coach.
“We need to act immediately, or else things will spiral out of control. We have produced top class players since independence, yet our clubs and all national teams have failed to perform at major tournament and that is unacceptable. Our neighbours Zambia and South Africa have done better than us with equal talent.” Despite claiming to have better talent and a better league, Zimbabwe has failed to perform in the continental safari, save for Dynamos reaching the CAF Champions League final in 1998, while the rest have performed embarrassingly, the worst being Highlanders, considered to be Dynamos’ equal in terms of local greatness. “This below-average performance is in turn affecting our players’ exposure to international leagues and has relegated them to only going to South Africa,” added the man who won the country its first notable tournament – the 2000 Cosafa Castle Cup.
“It is high time we pulled up our socks and started looking at a bigger picture of the game and only then can we begin to call ourselves serious contenders in the beautiful game. This needs equal commitment from ZIFA, the government, businesspeople, former players and the community. This is not the time to point fingers at one another because our football is collapsing.”