Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) president Philip Chiyangwa might have his own faults, but the Cosafa boss is doing his best to foster the interests of the region on the continental football scene.
insidesport with MICHAEL KARIATI
Chiyangwa has sent a proposal to the Confederation of African Football that two slots be reserved for the Cosafa region at the expanded 2022 Fifa World Cup to be held in Qatar where Africa will have eight slots up from five for the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia.
Although Cosafa has had previous World Cup representation in the form of South Africa at the 1998 and 2002 World Cup finals and Angola at the 2006 Fifa World Cup, Chiyangwa feels that was not enough and wants more teams starting from the Qatar World Cup, and via an easy and guaranteed qualification route.
This is a man who has a burning desire to see the Cosafa region represented wherever there is a football competition where Africa is taking part.
However, everywhere in the world, be it in Europe, South America, Oceania or Asia, qualification to the World Cup is on continental basis, not through regional competitions.
Fine, there is always a first in world football, but that regional route will only help Africa to send weak representatives to the World Cup. Imagine what the results would be if Africa is represented at the World Cup by say Lesotho, Madagascar, Swaziland, or the Comoros.
Qualification to the World Cup should always be on merit, letting the best teams be Africa’s flag bearers at the global football festival.
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Zimbabwe should qualify through the current difficult route, instead of getting there on a silver platter.
Even the continent’s own Africa Cup of Nations does not require regional qualification.
The house that Mutasa lives in
The house that Lloyd Mutasa is living in has never been good or accommodative to tenants. In less than two years, three tenants — Tonderayi Ndiraya, David Mandigora and Portuguese national Paolo Jorge Silva — have lived in that house, only to be evicted.
The landlord, Keni Mubaiwa, is a no-nonsense man and makes his point to his prospective tenants: “If he does not deliver to our expectation, the culture at Dynamos is that we fire ,” declares Mubaiwa.
He added: “Kalisto Pasuwa stayed for four years at Dynamos because he was winning. Winning is the word at DeMbare and that is what we want. If the coach wins and gives us the points, he stays. That is simple. ”
Mutasa was tasked with collecting 23 points from 10 games from a makeshift house which is shaking following the departure of top players like Walter Mukanga, Dominic Mukandi and Godknows Murwira, who have left for Ngezi Platinum Stars, while Mutasa’s own son Wisdom and Elisha Muroiwa are on the road to Tanzania.
Reliable Warriors goalkeeper Tatenda Mukuruva also departed long back for South African Absa Premiership club, Cape Town City, where he has sat on the bench since the day he joined the club.
Rising star and midfielder, Brett Amidu also left for FC Platinum. Seasoned players like Ocean Mushure and Masimba Mambare were crying over their outstanding dues, while the new crop at the club have not received theirs as well. Yet the coach is expected to produce miracles under such circumstances.
Mutasa has already dropped five points from the possible 23, meaning he has to win all the remaining seven matches for him to have a realistic chance of remaining in charge of Zimbabwe’s most popular football team.
This is unrealistic and unfair to the man, who has committed himself to the Dynamos cause even in these trying times when most of his players are still to receive their signing on fees not only for this season, but for last season and other previous seasons as well.
Watching Dynamos play against CAPS United in the Zimbabwe National Army Charities Shield as well as FC Platinum and Triangle in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League engagements, one can conclude that Dynamos are on the right path and that results will come.
Sadly though, the “Mutasa ngaaende (Mutasa must go)” bells are beginning to ring from a family where the children are also no different from their father.
Surely, after two games, that is unfair to Samaita considering that in 2009, Norman Mapeza won the league title with Monomotapa after losing his first four matches of the season.
Right now, Dynamos do not have money to replace their departed stars and Mutasa is doing his best to build a team that is acceptable to his team’s followers. He has done his best to persuade the few seasoned players to stay at the club, even though they are owed huge sums of money dating as far back as 2015.
If it is the culture at Dynamos, as Mubaiwa puts it, that coaches are hired and fired at will even when they are on the right building track, then that culture should be abandoned.
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