The ManicaPost
Fungayi Munyoro Sports Correspondent —
ZIMBABWE’S Mighty Warriors crashed out of the African Women Cup of Nations and who is to blame?
The Zimbabwe ladies failed to score even a single goal in Cameroon.
Their coach, Shaddy Mlauzi, believes that bad preparations cost the nation.
Zimbabwe ladies were booted out of the eight-team tournament last Friday after they slumped to a 0-2 defeat at the hands of the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon.
They finished on bottom of Group A with a single point behind Egypt with three points, while Cameroon and South Africa qualified for the semis with six and four points respectively.
In their opening encounter, they shared the spoils with South Africa. The game ended in a 0-0 before losing 0-1 to Egypt. In a telephone interview, the Bulawayo-based coach, said their early exit was due to poor preparations.
“We only assembled for our final camp a week before the tournament. This does not work for big tournaments like this. It is also a reflection of our football structures that we have here in Zimbabwe,” he said.
Mlauzi laments the lack of vibrant leagues in Zimbabwe.“We need vibrant junior league structures in our country. Junior tournaments should be played. These junior clubs will then act as a feeder system to senior teams. At the moment we don’t have vibrant senior leagues and this makes it very difficult to work under such conditions and produce good results,” he said.
Former Tenax Queens goalkeepers’ coach, Eddy ‘Dhiya’ Jewu, said ZIFA has failed to solve women football issues.
“I am of the opinion that ZIFA has failed completely and they are causing more harm than good. I believe that the mother body has since time immemorial been on record for making bad decisions at bad times. Their decisions always cost us.
“The issue of two if not three training camps is affecting the game. The coach is left with no option, but to try and balance player selection.
At the end of the day, he or she might leave other important players. The coach must be able to travel around the country and watch all teams playing to avoid a biased selection process. With the current scenario, it is not practical.
Let us try to cast our nets wider. We have so many good players at schools, let us identify that talent and nature it before it is too late.
We cannot blame players for the poor results because most clubs never kicked the ball this whole season and cannot get match fitness from the blankets.
Teams have to be active and put aside whatever difference they have,” he said.
Jewu believes that one of the things that cost the Mighty Warriors was poor preparations caused by poor planning.
