BY MICHAEL KARIATI
Zdravko Logarusic is staying on as Warriors coach for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers despite calls for his sacking.
This is the decision of the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) despite countrywide calls to have the Croatian removed from this demanding job.
The Zimbabwe football public is unanimous in its agreement that Loga has failed since taking over the Warriors job in 2020, overseeing the country’s worst ever performance at Chan and at the Cosafa Cup.
Zimbabwe lost all their three matches at the Chan tournament and were bundled out of the Cosafa Cup after losing out to Namibia and an experimental Senegal side.
The Croatian has won only one game, lost seven, and drawn four, of the 12 games he has been in charge of the Warriors after taking over from Joey Antipas.
However, Zifa feel Logarusic has not failed and should continue as Zimbabwe national team coach until his contract runs out in six months’ time.
There are two ways to that decision. One could prove to be Zifa’s downfall ahead of the Zifa elections in 2022 should Loga fail. The other could see those in football power walk tall in the streets should Loga succeed.
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There are others who believe that Loga was not totally to blame for the performance at Chan and Cosafa Cup as he was misled into picking the wrong players by his local assistants Lloyd Chitembwe and Tonderai Ndiraya.
Others are also pointing fingers at team manager Wellington Mpandare, whom they say has a lot of influence on who is called and who is not.
Whatever the case, the football family should live with what is there that Logarusic is the Warriors coach whether they like him or not.
Loga needs all the support as Zimbabwe brace for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers of which the country is in the same group with Ghana, Ethiopia and South Africa.
We have not seen much of the Warriors under Loga apart from the team of locally based players at Chan and at Cosafa, and four matches in Afcon qualifiers against Algeria, Botswana and Zambia.
What we saw of the home game against Algeria at the National Sports Stadium showed that given support, Loga’s team is capable of beating the best Africa has to offer.
The Warriors put up a sterling show and were unfortunate not to pick up the maximum three points and basing on that performance there is a lot of promise.
At that time, Loga was still settling, but now he has an idea of whom to call for the World Cup qualifiers without much outside influence.
What Zifa should do is to create an environment that leaves no room for excuses from Loga should the Warriors fail under him. Player bonuses and allowances should be made available and friendly matches organised on Fifa dates.
From the outset, the World Cup qualifiers look intimidating, but in reality it is a group that Zimbabwe can successfully navigate if the right things are done.
Let us give Loga all the support he needs and see how far we can go.
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