Petros Kausiyo Harare Bureau
IAN Gorowa’s future with the Warriors, and that of all national teams’ coaches, will be decided in Harare next Wednesday when the Zifa board meets to table recommendations by their High Performance Committee.Gorowa’s future with the Warriors has been a matter of intense speculation since the Warriors crashed out of the 2015 African Cup of Nations qualifiers following a 3-2 aggregate loss to Tanzania at the preliminary round stage.

The Warriors coach had initially thought of throwing in the towel, moments after Zimbabwe’s shock defeat by the Taifa Stars, but the former Moroka Swallows and Mamelodi Sundowns coach decided to stay on and try and rebuild a new senior side for future assignments.

However, Gorowa, never a favourite of controversial High Performance Committee vice-chairman Gibson Homela, seemed to have eventually fallen out with the committee that is headed by Zifa board member John Phiri.

A public spat then ensued, after Homela publicly questioned Gorowa’s credentials and queried the manner in which Zifa had hired the former Zimbabwe striker, and widened the rift between the pair, which had earlier been torched by the former’s criticism of the Warriors coach’s tactics during the 2014 African Nations Championships in South Africa.

Former Zimbabwe Saints and Warriors coach Homela also gave the biggest possible hint that Zifa would restructure their national teams’ structures when he revealed that his committee had asked that all national coaches should re-submit their CVs, and told the media that  Gorowa had not tendered his.

Last Thursday, Zifa held a board meeting, ostensibly to prepare for an extraordinary meeting of the assembly, announce their sub-committee which will overally be supervised by association president Cuthbert Dube and his deputy Omega Sibanda.

The board meeting also laid the ground work for their two-day strategic retreat staged at the Zifa Village in Mt Hampden last weekend.

During the meeting, Phiri presented the HPC’s report on the state of all national men and women’s teams and it is that document and a raft of recommendations which is reportedly contained in the dossier, which the Zifa board would now discuss.

Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze said the HPC’s report would guide their debate on how best to set up the technical structures of the national teams.

There is no doubting, however, that the Warriors, will naturally come under the spotlight given that they remain the country’s flagship soccer team despite their frustrating failures and Gorowa’s fate will headline that of other coaches such as Mighty Warriors’ Rosemary Mugadza, Young Mighty Warriors gaffer Langton Giwa and men’s Under-20 mentor Jairos Tapera.

With Cosafa yesterday officially announcing that the Senior Challenge Cup, which had been scheduled for Botswana next month had been cancelled, the Warriors look set to be out of competitive action for a longer period.

Mashingaidze said the board would use next Wednesday’s indaba to fine-tune a presentation that Zifa are expected to make before the parliamentary portfolio committee on Education, Sport, Arts and Culture the following day.

The Zifa chief executive appeared a relieved man that they will make their latest appearance at the august House with the assembly having ratified the association’s audited accounts from 2011 to 2013.

There have also been calls on Zifa from across the board for the association to put more energy on youth development which would provide the launch pad on which the next generation of Warriors could be built.

Although Zifa are still to make an official announcement, there are indications that Dynamos gaffer Callisto Pasuwa will be installed the substantive national Under-23 coach with either of Hwange’s Nation Dube and Saul Chaminuka of ZPC Kariba likely to come in as his assistants.

 

You Might Also Like

Comments