It is unfortunate that when football fans talk about national teams, they only talk about the Warriors, forgetting that there is also the Mighty Warriors and the Young Warriors.
insidesport with MICHAEL KARIATI
The Mighty Warriors and the Young Warriors are as important as the men’s senior team because when they do well on the international front, it is the name of the country that everyone talks about.
Right now, focus is more on who will be appointed the next Warriors’ coach yet there is also the important issue of the Mighty Warriors following the sacking of Shadreck Mlauzi, who is understood to be looking for a job at a Bulawayo Premiership club.
It is the Mighty Warriors who made the nation proud by becoming the first team to qualify for the Olympic Games. Although they lost all their matches at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, the fact that they qualified is history in itself.
It should also be noted that the Mighty Warriors were also the first national team to qualify for the quarterfinals of the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) following their exploits at the 2004 tournament in South Africa under the captaincy of Rosemary Mugadza.
The Warriors have failed to do that. They have been to Afcon on three occasions in 2004, 2006, and 2017, and have failed to go past the group stages, with their worst performance coming at the 2017 finals in Gabon where they managed only one point in three matches.
So, when the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) finally appoints the senior national team coach, it is important that they at the same time’ also appoint the Mighty Warriors coach to give him/her the time to build the team.
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It is also important that the Mighty Warriors coach be given the same international friendly matches as accorded to the Warriors in order to give the coach the opportunity to build and prepare the team for the qualifiers for the 2018 Africa Women’s Championships.
The coach also needs time to build the team for the next edition of the Olympic Games which will come in 2020.
After qualifying for the 2016 games, the Mighty Warriors need to go a step further by qualifying and then reaching the quarter-finals of the 2020 competition.
So far, Zifa has done well when it comes to the men’s senior national team in terms of international friendly matches and provision of bonuses. The same should also be done for the Mighty Warriors.
However, Zifa’s support for national teams should not begin and end with the Warriors and the Mighty Warriors, but should also go down to the junior teams – the Under-17 and Under-23.
No senior national team can stand the test of time without a vibrant Under-17 and Under-23 national team and Zifa should also make sure that these teams are existent, unlike in the past when they were withdrawn from international participation on the excuse that there was no money.
The most successful national football teams in Africa, the likes of Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Cameroon, have proved that success at international level starts at junior level.
Although the Warriors have been to Afcon, they have failed to qualify for the World Cup and this should be the ultimate goal.
That goal can be achieved by giving the junior teams the same financial support as the senior team. Finances should be put in place to ensure that the Young Warriors are accorded suitable accommodation, and also paid well when they do well.
Apart from the Africa Junior Championships, there is also the 2020 Olympic Games to look forward to, and this is the time to lay the groundwork.
Although the national team coach has the power to appoint his assistants, Zifa should make it mandatory that the Under-23 coach is one of the senior national team assistant coaches to ensure transition of players from the junior team to the Warriors.
Perhaps that way, Zimbabwe can enjoy football success both at junior and senior levels.
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