The ManicaPost
ZIMBABWE Football Association (ZIFA) president, Felton Kamambo, has always reiterated that his administration will not make any interjections in the national team performance discourse and instead will “let football do the talking”.
The-not-so-warriorlike Warriors remain winless in the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers after succumbing to a morale sapping 0-1 defeat to Ethiopia in their second Group G encounter at the Bahir Dar International Stadium on Tuesday.
After the goalless draw at home against South Africa last week on Friday, the Warriors went into the tie against Ethiopia seeking a win to revive their hopes of reaching the final phase of the World Cup qualifiers.
In the end, it was another disappointing outing for the Zdravko Logarusic-coached Warriors after they conceded a stoppage-time goal to slump to a yet another painful defeat.
Crucially, this was the 14th match that the expatriate has been in charge of our national team and in all those 14 attempts, he has only won a single match.
With such results, surely football is not only talking, but crying out loudly for help.
The game of football is surely crying out for the right decisions.
It is crying out for the right approach to appointments.
It is crying out for sound and professional management.
It is common that when the team wins, we congratulate the players and when the team loses, we blame the coach.
This is the cruel nature of the game of football and so let it be with Loga.
The Croatian is surely not expecting us to smile, knowing that the result from Ethiopia means Zimbabwe are now facing a mission impossible to progress to the final round of the qualifiers.
The Warriors are now bottom of Group G with a single point after the first two matches.
They are behind South Africa who are on top of the log with four points, while Ghana and Ethiopia are both on three points.
That only the top placed team in each of the groups will progress to the next round of qualification puts into perspective the dejection and melancholy Warriors fans have been plunged into.
While the Warriors still have four fixtures to go, they are now almost out of contention early on in their campaign following this result and someone really needs to make this known and understood by both Loga and ZIFA.
The task ahead for the Warriors is made even more daunting by the fact that they will next face West African giants, Ghana in back to back ties when the qualifiers resume in October.
We all know the challenge posed by the Ghanaians.
If Loga cannot deal with teams like Ethiopia and in the recent past, Namibia and Malawi, how can we really expect him to have a miracle against formidable opposition of the calibre of the Black Stars of Ghana?
This is not the first time that calls have been made to part ways with Loga.
Each time it has been done in the past, ZIFA has been in the habit of managing emotions and letting Loga proceed to the next assignment in charge of the national team.
We can only continue on this path at our own peril as a football playing nation.
Our own history as a football playing nation shows us the good that we have achieved with local coaches and yet somehow we still find ourselves stuck with an arrogant and ignorant foreign coach.
As we brood over the misery of yet another Warriors’ dismal performance, we can only remind ZIFA that their own performance is measured against the performance of the national team.
History will surely judge them harshly!
