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Ricky Zililo

LOCAL fans have challenged Zifa to consider hiring a local coach for the Warriors following the latest “new low” registered by Croatian Zdravko Logarusic, who came back from Chan empty-handed.

Statistically, the Croatian became the worst national team coach after failing to garner even a point from the three group matches at Chan in Cameroon.

He has gone for six matches in all competitions without a win since taking charge of the national team.

Since taking over the hot seat, Loga has drawn twice; 0-0 against Malawi in a friendly match and 2-2 with African champions Algeria in an Afcon qualifier.

He has lost four times; 3-1 to Algeria in an Afcon qualifier, 1-0 to Cameroon in the Chan opening match, followed by a 3-1 drubbing by Burkina Faso and 1-0 loss to Mali.

“Statistics don’t lie. Loga has failed as far as fans are concerned because for a foreign coach to go for six games without a win is worrisome. In as much as we celebrated the coming in of an expatriate, this is not what we expected.

To go to Chan and come back without even managing to get a point is inexcusable.

“Six games in charge and only managing two points is failure by any standards. The national team isn’t for experiments and the sooner Zifa rectifies this mistake the better because we might find ourselves failing to qualify for the Afcon yet we are in a good position,” said Carlmark Nkomo, the Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters Association (ZNSSA) vice-chairman.

In getting two points from a possible 18, his side scored only four goals and conceded 10 times.

With Afcon qualifiers set for March, another fan Trust Jim said Zifa needs to establish if Loga is properly supported by his assistants.

“We’ve read stories on social media that there seems to be disunity in the Warriors’ coaching department and Zifa has never refuted those allegations. There’s no smoke without fire. Some were alleging there are individuals getting kickbacks from the coach’s salary and when results come like this, you wonder if these rumours are false,” said Jim.

“What we demand that Zifa evaluated this coach’s performance and tell us if they feel he’s on the right path because I see our Warriors failing to qualify for Afcon if we continue with Loga. The funny thing is that had it been a local coach who had done this, he would have been fired before even presenting his report on the Chan trip”.

Zimbabwe are in Group H of the Afcon qualifiers with Algeria, Zambia and Botswana.

Algeria have already qualified after amassing 10 points with two games to spare.

The Warriors are second with five points, Zambia in third place with four points and Botswana in third with three points.

On March 22, the Warriors will be away to Botswana, who held Zimbabwe to a 0-0 draw in the first-leg held in Harare. Botswana stunned Zambia 1-0 and could shock the Warriors since they held their own away from home.

The Warriors wrap their qualifiers with a home encounter against Zambia, hoping to complete a double over their trans-Zambezi rivals following a 2-1 upset they registered in Lusaka in the first-leg.

In the event that Zifa continues to have faith in Loga, the Croatian will have a hard time convincing the nation that he is the right man for the job.

A lot had been expected from the Croatian, who upon his appointment declared that he hadn’t been lured by money in accepting the job, but by the quality of players Zimbabwe has.

Zifa must be wondering if they didn’t err in appointing Loga, who left Sudan in December 2019 after his contract was not renewed.

Why didn’t Sudan renew Loga’s contract if he was a good coach?

During his two years in charge of Sudan, he led them to third place finish in the 2018 Chan in Morocco and booked them a spot in the group phase of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, but they still released him.

Zifa said Loga was on a performance-based contract, but with him being a prisoner to such bad statistics, fans will be watching to see if the national association will act. – @ZililoR