Simba Rushwaya
Eastern Sports Echoes
IN life, there are issues that are difficult to ignore despite sounding monotonous.
In coming up with this instalment, I grudgingly chose to dwell on the appointment of the Warriors head coach, Michael Nees, from Germany because matters to do with football at the moment nauseate, not just the fans, but even Yours Truly.
Anything to do with Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA), especially their Normalisation Committee (NC), led by Lincoln Mutasa saps the strength.
I wanted to ignore the story because it did not happen in our East coast, but then this is a national dance, and Manicaland deserves to be on the dance floor too.
After all, the wise men in the Bible came from the East, and we will do as much to feed our wisdom into the national jar.
We are excited that, finally, the football governing body has appointed a full time coach in the form of Nees after suicidal experiments of appointing interim coaches every three months.
Nees has been given the chance to lead Zimbabwe for the next two years.
For the benefit of those who didn’t know, ZIFA appointed Nees on Tuesday this week, replacing Jairos Tapera of Manica Diamonds Football Club from Mutare.
Manica Diamonds’ fans must heave a sigh of relief because their team had suddenly hit a turbulent patch while Tapera concentrated on Warriors assignments.
Tapera was nearly manhandled by restless fans at Sakubva Stadium last Sunday after a goalless draw against champions, Ngezi Platinum, making it eight consecutive games without a win.
Manica Diamonds were leading the pack in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League (PSL) before Tapera’s Warriors jaunts, but now lie fourth on the log.
The Easterners are not impressed.
But then we have a national bone to chew.
Nees is a 57-year-old coach who says he aims to inject a “modern and innovative approach into Zimbabwe’s football strategy.”
With a UEFA Pro Licence and Masters in Sports Science, Performance, Physiology, and Ethnology from the University of Heidelberg, his CV sounds very thunderous.
Notably, he has also coached Rwanda, our opponents in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, and was director of coaching and education at South Africa Football Association (SAFA) in his 25-year-career.
Sounds charming to me, but I am not sure that will turn him into a results oriented fellow for the thirsty Warriors fans, who are now accustomed to having their team lose to such teams as Namibia.
Can you imagine?
They were our whipping boys in the 1980s, and they should be surprised about what has happened to our football landscape.
In my humble view, the appointment of Nees must signal a new era for our football.
Mutasa must embrace the fact that he is living in the past, and quickly graduate from his slumber.
He seems to think that the fact he was an excellent administrator at Dynamos in the 1980s still makes him one today.
He also thinks that the fact that he is an accomplished businessman makes him a good administrator now.
NO SIR!
I was embarrassed when you boldly told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Sports that you had not attended any soccer match this season.
Attending a soccer match does not make you a good executive, but it shows passion and gives you the much-needed exposure to solve our problems.
You need to know the problems to be able to solve them.
How do we expect you to solve things that you don’t know SaMutasa?
You can’t be sitting on your laurels at home every Sunday, and expect miracles from Zimbabwe’s football jigsaw puzzle.
Wake up from your deep slumber Sir.
The appointment of Nees should act as your trigger to get off the blocks and become a modern administrator.
Surround yourself with knowledgeable people; otherwise you are not that bad. Just remove the 1980s blankets and slide into new ones.
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