If recent results posted by junior men’s and women’s national teams at the ongoing African Union Sports Council Region 5 Under-20 Youth Games are to be taken as the perfect crystal ball into the future of our national teams, then we are doomed.
While the men’s side drew 1-1 with Mozambique, their female counterparts were a sorry sight as they were clobbered 5-0 by South Africa.
The Young Warriors did not lose their opening game against Mozambique, but the fact that they drew with the minnows in their own home turf show Zimbabwe might remain untrustworthy on international assignments for a very long time. The country has not enjoyed success in both continental and international assignments largely because of draws and even losses to token opposition like Mozambique, Malawi, Lesotho and Tanzania, who, according to rankings, should be walk-over propositions.
Now that we are not in the pot for next year’s African Nations Cup and look set to miss out on the 2018 Fifa World Cup, many would have banked on the much-vaunted dissolution of The Warriors by Zifa to give us indications of better future fortunes. Yet our future looks even gloomier.
In a group that also has Malawi, Swaziland and Angola, one would have thought that the Angolans’ 1-0 loss to Malawi would have presented Zimbabwe with a chance to top Group A and lay a proper challenge for a gold medal. That could still happen, but the fact that the nation was left guessing after the first round of matches shows we are not there yet. That means we should be worried.
Enter the women’s side and the script becomes even scarier. At senior level, Zimbabwe had somehow found the answer to Banyana Banyana’s dominance over them, yet it now looks like sad history could be restored when those playing today are gone.
What do we need to do to shake-off the current trend where we are forced to watch other nations battle for supremacy at international tournaments like the Afcon and the World Cup?
Zimbabwe just needs to copy the model used by the South Africans, where football development is not left to the clubs, but shared by government, the corporate world, the PSL and Safa in unison.
In recent years, Safa and the PSL made it compulsory for National First Division clubs to have at least five Under-23 players in their starting line-ups in every league game. That not only prepares the juniors for the gruelling fight they have in future, but also allows the national team coach to ably plan for the future basing on the arsenal he has in hand.
The juniors will also get exposed to bigger league teams and get easy promotion to the elite league. Zimbabwe only needs to copy and paste that, but in a disunited set-up we have, and under a lackadaisical approach by Zifa, we seem to be far off the ball.
Post published in: Football