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Norman Mapeza

Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
WARRIORS’ legend Norman Mapeza and his backroom staff might see through the senior national team’s 2019 Total African Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers after Zifa indicated that it is not hunting for a substantive coach due to budgetary constraints.

There had been clamours from some quarters for Zifa to hire a foreigner for the Warriors’ job left vacant by Callisto Pasuwa after a disastrous showing at the 2016 Afcon finals in Gabon. The Warriors managed just a single draw in their three Group B matches, which involved Algeria, Tunisia and Senegal.

Zifa went on to appoint FC Platinum head coach  Mapeza on a caretaker basis assisted by Ngezi Platinum and Bulawayo City head coaches, Tonderayi Ndiraya and Mandla Mpofu.

The trio got off to a flying start in their Group G opener, pummelling Liberia 3-0 at the National Sports Stadium through an impressive Knowledge Musona hat-trick.

“We are not hunting for a substantive coach; we are not there yet because we have no money,” said Zifa president Phillip Chiyangwa.

He also appealed to the media not to push the association into hiring a foreigner as that also required adequate funding.

“The media keeps pushing us, but we have no money for that,” he said.

The Warriors resume their road to Cameroon next year in March with an away fixture to Congo Brazzaville before playing host to the Democratic Republic of Congo in September.

They visit Liberia a month later and wind up their qualifiers with a home tie against Congo Brazzaville in November.

Only table toppers from the 12 groups, hosts and three best second-placed sides will make it to the finals.

Zimbabwe have qualified for the continental tournament three times under local coaches, first in 2004 under the legendary Sunday Chidzambwa in Tunisia before Charles Mhlauri took the nation to the 2006 jamboree in Egypt. The nation had to wait for an agonising decade before rubbing shoulders with the cream of African footballers and again, it was another local coach Pasuwa, who brought an end to that agony.

Mapeza would obviously want to join that elite band of coaches that took the national team to the biggest continental football tournament and might have relished his chances if he had watched Congo Brazzaville’s horror show against Ghana in a 2018 World Cup qualifier on Tuesday that ended in a 5-1 victory for the Black Stars.

@skhumoyo2000