BY DANIEL NHAKANISO
FORMER Warriors captain Willard Katsande has revealed his ambition to become the head coach of the senior men’s national football team in the future as he prepares for the next phase of his professional football career.
The 35-year-old veteran combative midfielder, who is now in the twilight of his playing career at South African giants Kaizer Chiefs, revealed his Warriors coaching ambitions soon after announcing that he was planning to hang his boots in the next two years.
However, it is his desire to one day become the Warriors coach, which is sure to set tongues wagging among local football fans.
Katsande served the nation with distinction as a player, with the major highlight of his career coming in 2017 when he captained the Warriors at the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals in Gabon.
He is one of just three players, who have captained the Warriors to the Afcon finals.
The others are Peter Ndlovu, who led the team to the 2004 and 2006 Afcon finals, and Knowledge Musona, who was captain, when the Warriors qualified for the 2019 and 2021 editions of the tournament.
Katsande, who recently revealed his desire to have a final dance with the Warriors as a player, two years after announcing his retirement from international football, would become the first local player to captain and coach the national team at the Afcon finals if he realises his dream.
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The former Highway and Gunners star says he is already working towards his coaching qualifications.
“I’m doing a couple of things, and at the same time I’m going to venture into coaching, but I want to be the Zimbabwe national team coach,” Katsande said on Vodacom’s interactive show on YouTube, Ringa Nathi.
“When I retired I told them ‘I am still going to come back to the national team but not as a player, but as a coach’ so, I’m going to chase my dream on that and maybe one day I am going to coach Chiefs. Obviously I’m very demanding on myself, but other than that I have a few businesses that I am trying and also studying but at the same time, time is not enough,” the midfielder said.
Katsande is one of the longest-serving players at Chiefs along with Bernard Parker.
He has made more than 300 appearances in the famous black and gold winning four trophies since joining the club from Ajax Cape Town in 2011.
There have been reports linking him with an exit, out of Kaizer Chiefs, given the limited role he has played under Gavin Hunt and the fact that his contract at the Soweto giants is set to expire at the end of the season.
He, however, insists he has no immediate plans to retire from the game and still wants to play for two more seasons.
“I think between 2022 June or 2023.
“So, 2022 it will take me you know if Amakhosi win a trophy, you know, then it’s nice and you say, ‘let me try it one more time’ so that you leave a good legacy and lay a foundation for the youngsters to come because these youngsters they still want us to lead their way,” he said.
