The ManicaPost
Moffat Mungazi
Post Correspondent
DESPITE the Warriors suffering an ignominious elimination at the ongoing CHAN finals, former forward, Alois “Gazza” Bunjira, has urged the team to quickly regroup and prepare for the next assignments.
Zimbabwe endured their worst outing at the tournament, failing to collect any points after losing all their three matches to finish bottom of their Group A pile.
They conceded five goals and managed only a solitary strike to crash out at the first hurdle on their return to the competition after missing the previous edition.
Providing a brutally candid cross-cutting post-mortem of the botched campaign, Bunjira — who is giving back to his native Eastern Highlands community by sponsoring a football tournament in Honde Valley —was scathing in his assessment of the Warriors’ performance and was not sparing in his criticism.
He feels the boys could have fared better.
“The way we went about business at that competition was just dismal. For me, being knocked without any points while conceding five goals and scoring only one is the height of failure.
“The performance itself was below par because we did not have a distinctive style and identifiable structure that the whole unit hardly clicked. Overall, it was just sad and bad by any standards.
“Using three different goalkeepers in as many matches while making wholesome changes and replacing six places in only the second game left a lot to be desired and it was an indictment on the technical team. They were found wanting in this regard,” said Bunjira, who first rose to prominence as a predatory finisher with the now defunct Darryn Tornadoes before later establishing himself as a household name at CAPS United.
The multiple soccer star of the year finalist watered down the notion that Zimbabwe struggled at the finals due to lack of preparations.
“That is just a lame excuse,” quipped the ex-Mamelodi Sundown hitman, adding: “Our participation at CHAN was confirmed last year and we should have utilised the intervening period to put in place a bankable plan. That we had no competitive local league running should also not be used to exonerate our shortcomings. We could have taken advantage of this scenario by organising a prolonged training camp because there would not be any distractions of divided attention or disturbances to the players owing to club commitments. It then shows we had no proper programme for smooth operations in place.
“In the end, we wasted precious time engaging local clubs in warm-up matches. Not that this was a bad idea, but we could have put that little time to some other better use than the endless chopping and needless changing which characterised the aftermath of each friendly game. This is where the input of the assistant coaches could have come in handy because they are familiar with the domestic pool of players and could easily identify the ones to call up.
The rest of the time would have, therefore, been used to physically and psychologically condition the players during that prolonged training camp.”
He added that Zifa, on the recommendations of their technical director, simply needed to change the format of the preparations from the ones we had grown accustomed to in the past given our circumstances with Covid-19 and non-activity of the domestic top-tier division.
Bunjira, who has morphed into an authoritative pundit of the game since hanging up his boots, likened Zimbabwe’s outing at the tournament to “going for trials at a major competition.”
“We should have gone there to impress and make an impact, and not just make up the numbers. Virtually all the players who made that CHAN squad are good enough to have done well at the finals. We fell short due to some factors other than the quality in the team,” he said.
The 1996 soccer star of the year first runner-up, however, remains upbeat that Zimbabwe can still be a force to reckon with on the continent. He feels that setback in Cameroon should not hold the boys back, especially with the crucial Afcon qualifiers against Botswana (away) and Zambia (home) set for a little over a month in March looming on the horizon.
Explained the former deadly gunslinger: “Defeat remains only so if we do not learn from it. We have fallen down, yes, but now have to quickly dust ourselves up and prepare for the forthcoming fixtures. We have bigger and crucial assignments coming up in Afcon qualifiers and if CHAN was a disappointment then we have to make up for it by securing a ticket to the next finals. We have to keep the desire alive and maintain the belief that we are still good enough to challenge and compete against the best sides around. It is how we react to the farce in Cameroon that can spur us on. We boast a pool of players who can do the job and deliver.”
Bunjira holds the distinction of being among the crop of footballers who did duty for Zimbabwe during their maiden participation at the Afcon finals in 2004 in Tunisia.
