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Grace Chingoma, Harare Bureau
ZIFA are set to appoint Mark Harrison as the Warriors substantive coach following an association board meeting in the capital on Friday where they virtually agreed to rope in the British mentor to fill the vacancy left by Callisto Pasuwa early this year.

Harrison is currently working in Zimbabwe as technical director of football at Harare City.

And the British expatriate coach is expected to retain his post at the council-owned club under a special arrangement between his club and the Association.
The arrangement will see Harrison become a full-time coach for the national team while he continues with his duties in City’s structures where he has more of a supervisory role.

However, this arrangement is expected to be more workable compared to what FC Platinum coach Norman Mapeza and ZPC Kariba’s Sunday Chidzambwa did during their recent stints with the national team this year.

The duo this year took up on Warriors assignments with Mapeza presiding over the first African Cup of Nations qualifier against Liberia in June while Chidzambwa took the team to Cosafa Cup in South Africa and the Chan assignments.

Unlike Mapeza and Chidzambwa, Harrison is not involved in day-to-day coaching at Harare City but rather oversees all the football clubs from their developmental sides, with head coaches of specific teams being the ones in the trenches.

Philani “Beefy” Ncube is the gaffer for the league side the Sunshine Boys while Mkhupali “Mr Cooper” Masuku is involved with the Harare Cubs, the club’s developmental side.

Sources say Zifa and the Harare City executive are expected to thrash out this week the finer details, which includes timelines of Harrison’s stint with the Warriors.

Yesterday, Harare City secretary-general Matthew Marara said they won’t have a problem with Zifa’s request.

“They haven’t approached us but we have also heard rumours to that effect. If approached as a club, we will put national interest first and we cannot reject that.

“I don’t think that will be a problem (having Harrison doubling as the national team coach and Harare City technical director),” said Marara.

Zifa spokesperson Xolisani Gwesela said the Association will advise on the Warriors post once they have reached a decision.

He could not divulge whether there are any specific names that have been earmarked for the post following Friday’s meeting by the executive committee .

Chiyangwa and his board members met in the capital on Friday to deliberate on the national team coach ahead of next month’s busy schedule which starts with two friendly matches against Lesotho on November 8 and Namibia on November 11 before the Warriors travel to Kenya for the Cecafa tournament.

Zimbabwe will resume the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying action next March.

The Warriors are in Group G with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo Brazzaville and Liberia.

The former Caps United coach, Harrison, said he also heard from the grapevine about his link to the biggest job in the country but is yet to be officially contacted by Zifa.

However, Harrison said it would be unfair to his employers for him to express his interest or rather comment on the Warriors job.

But our Harare Bureau has established that Zifa and Harare City have covered ground and this week they are expected to thrash out the finer details which include the period Zifa want Harrison to be at the helm and other related issues.

It was not clear though whether Harrison will immediately start his duties next month as Zifa are understood to have written to Mapeza’s employers asking for permission to keep using the coach.

Although FC Platinum have the final say on matter, it is highly unlikely they will release Mapeza on the Fifa dates at a time they are involved in the bruising league race with Dynamos, Ngezi Platinum and Chicken Inn.

The Castle Lager Premiership will go on a break to accommodate the Fifa date from November 6 to 14.