The ManicaPost
THE passionate plea made by the national senior men’s football team coach Sunday Chidzambwa for people to put aside their differences and rally behind the squad ahead of the Caf Africa Cup of Nations final qualifier against Congo Brazzaville cannot escape the attention of all progressive and patriotic citizens.
During a media briefing done in the capital early this week, Chidzambwa touched the hearts and minds of sports journalists when he diverted from the Queen’s language and pleaded with scribes from different stables in vernacular to put the nation first ahead of all social and political differences when it comes to the nation’s number one sport — football.
He reminded journalists that he is made of flesh and blood just like any of us, hence fallible but his mistakes as a coach must not deter Zimbabweans from looking at the bigger picture of ensuring a better future for our national team.
After all, we are all Zimbabweans first before everything else!
This is the reason we will hug and ululate when our beloved Warriors find the target and that is also the same reason we will bow our heads in melancholy each time our beloved Warriors concede a goal.
This is the spirit that should prevail not only in this final Group G Afcon final qualifier on March 24 but ever after.
We all know that this Afcon qualifier against Congo Brazzaville, crucial as it is, is not the be all and end all of our being as Zimbabweans.
It is always common when selection for national teams is done that people have differences on who should make it into squad and who should not, but that should not turn anyone against a team carrying the hopes and aspirations of the nation.
This explains why Warriors’ team manager Wellington Mpandare was also quick to remind journalists that the assignment against Congo Brazzaville is not the last for the national team and those sidelined would also be considered for future assignments.
“People should understand that this squad is for the Congo Brazzaville match, and as for the Afcon finals, if we qualify, everyone has a chance (to be selected).
“There are a lot of things that the technical team considers when picking a squad for a particular match or tournament, and the coach believes that this squad will do the immediate job. There will be changes obviously if we qualify. There could be injuries and dip in form for some players, so changes will be there,” Mpandare said.
The match against Congo on March 24 evokes memories of that heartbreak when the late John Sibanda’s howler contributed to Zimbabwe’s failure to qualify for what would have been a maiden African Cup of Nations finals dance way back in 1992 and Zimbabweans would not want a repeat of the same.
Thus goalkeeper George Chigova, who has started pulling some top saves for his South African ABSA Premiership side Polokwane since recovering from injury, told our sister paper The Sunday Mail that he believes now is the time to put the Congo heartbreak to bed and give solace and hope to the 13 million people rallying behind their flagship football team.
Chigova’s words must be heard and understood by all those who will be representing the nation and wearing the gold and white stripe on March 24.
They all need to know that the hopes of the entire nation are on their shoulders thus they must put in extra effort to bring the result that we all expect.
No doubt, Zimbabweans are expecting nothing less than victory against Congo Brazzaville and if all comes to the worst, a draw that will see us through.
