The Zimbabwe senior men’s national team has, once again, flattered to deceive. Losing 1-0 away to Tanzania was no big deal, especially on African soil, where away teams usually lose even to token opposition.
However, allowing the Taifa Stars to march onto the National Sports Stadium, grab the lead and leave with a draw, is unforgivable. In all football terms, Tanzania are an unrecognised nation on the continent and losing to them on the 3-2 aggregate means Zimbabwe should forget about appearing in any major tournament for a very long time.
That is where the Nigerian question comes in. Unlike our pathetic Warriors, who do not qualify for any major tournament, the Super Eagles seldom miss qualification to any tournament. Not only that, they also do win the African Nations Cup, reach the semi-finals of the African Nations Championships and acquit themselves well at the FIFA World Cup, where they have equalled the African record of a quarterfinal appearance.
During that time, Zimbabwe have only two Afcon appearances to talk about and an embarrassment of having bowed out of each at the first round.
It is embarrassing that time and again, when Afcon fails, we have to seek solace among the small boys at the less fashionable Cosafa Castle Cup, where we usually get our tails up and proclaim ourselves regional giants after we win it against totem opposition like Botswana, Swaziland and Madagascar.
However, since that has become our favourite territory, organisers of the regional tournament announced this week that entries had closed for participation in the Botswana showcase scheduled for September. There was also some bad news for Zimbabwe in that announcement. West African and continental powerhouse – Ghana, also among the world’s most recognised football nations, have also confirmed their participation in the championship.
The Black Stars, who will be competing at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil later this month, notified COSAFA of their acceptance of the invitation to compete last week, taking the place of Comoros Islands, who opted out.
“We are delighted to have Ghana competing in Botswana and it is another sign of the high regard the rest of Africa places on the COSAFA Cup competition,” said Timothy Shongwe, Chairman of COSAFA’ s Organising Committee.
“Ghana are a powerhouse of the continent and have been the most successful African side at the last two World Cup tournaments, narrowly missing out on a place in the semi-finals in South African in 2010.”
The format of the 2014 competition will be the same as in Zambia last year, where two first round groups will be contested with the winners advancing to the quarterfinals.
Ghana are likely to receive a bye into the quarterfinals, along with the five other best-positioned teams according to the FIFA World Rankings, who will be joined by the two pool winners to complete the Last eight.
Post published in: Football