After 180 minutes of action at the ongoing African Championships (Chan) tournament in South Africa, misfiring Warriors are yet to score a goal.
Final Whistle with Brian Nkiwane
This raises more questions than answers over Ian Gorowa’s team selection, as well as the composition of his technical team.
To me, it’s not a surprise at all that the Warriors have been failing to score goals as most of the players that topped the scoring charts in our domestic league were not part of his team.
Golden Boot Award winner Tendai Ndoro, who bagged in 16 goals, joined the great trek to South Africa in search of the elusive rand when he signed for Black Aces. By so doing, he became ineligible to play in this tournament as it is limited to locally-based players only.
But where did Gorowa think the goals were going to come from when he did not include in his team the second best goal scorer, Stephen Sibanda, formerly with Buffaloes who has joined FC Platinum in this transfer window?
Neither did he include the third highest goal scorer Aleck Marime, who despite playing for a team that started fighting relegation from the fifth week, Tripple B, managed to score 11 goals.
This is a bold statement on Marime’s capabilities.
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Gorowa and his technical team then decided to include fourth highest goal scorer Misheck Mburayi, who however did not turn up for camp.
The strikers that he settled for have failed their clubs locally and are busy failing the nation as well.
I think Gorowa and his technical bench need to answer some questions from this victory-starved nation.
Everyone wants an answer as to why Simba Sithole of Dynamos has just returned from where ever he was hibernating to make a quick comeback into the Warriors fold.
On numerous occasions, he failed to convert when it was easier to score than to miss in both matches, a clear indication that he was not match-fit.
Nelson Mazivisa had a quiet season with Zvishavane-based outfit FC Platinum. Mazivisa hit the bottom after having finished the 2012 season on a high note with town rival Shabanie Mine, only to falter the following season.
His teammates at FC Platinum, Donald Ngoma and Ali Sadiki, did not enjoy a good season at the platinum miners but have been given the task to score goals for the national team at such a grand stage.
This then makes most football fans think that someone is running a project to try and expose some players to the international market even though they are not up to the task at hand.
Gorowa should have read between the lines during qualifying stages, that he needed strikers and should have prioritised that area.
Apart from the strikers issue, the composition of the Warriors technical bench has become a bone of contention.
It seems much focus has been placed on goalkeepers.
Gorowa leads the team of former DeMbare players that include Kallisto Pasuwa and Gift Muzadzi whose inclusion in the technical team was not explained to the nation. There are usually three goalkeepers for each national team assignment and with Richard Tswatswa already in the fold, why add Muzadzi?
The goalkeeper-coach ratio in the Warriors camp is now unbelievable.
The other members of the technical team include Mkhuphali Masuku and Jairos Tapera who did not travel with the team to South Africa.
Fans back at home no longer understand whether this is a Warriors’ revival project or it’s now a project to try and sell players.
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