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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
ZIFA board member responsible for national teams Tawengwa Hara says the bowing out of the Warriors and Mighty Warriors from the Afcon and African Women’s Championship is a blessing in disguise for the nation. The Warriors were embarrassingly booted out in the first round of the 2015 Afcon preliminary qualifier by Tanzania after a 2-3 aggregate defeat last week. The Tafia Stars are ranked 32nd in Africa with Zimbabwe being on position 26 on the continent.
Last Sunday, the senior women’s team was knocked out of the 2014 African Women’s Championship after losing to Zambia 0-2 on aggregate.

National teams’ failure to make it for continental competitions has no doubt infuriated Zimbabwe’s soccer lovers. What further irritates the sport lovers is the fact that there are no activities for women’s soccer as well as the failure for boys’ Under-17 and 20 teams from continental competitions after failing to fulfil international assignments.

In an interview on the sidelines of the Cameroon 0-1 loss to Mexico in the World Cup opener at the Cresta fan park in Bulawayo on Friday, Hara said there are no shortcuts to achieving results and as Zifa they are also worried about the teams’ failure to make it for continental competitions.

He said they are going to meet as a board and strategise on developmental plans that will see Zimbabwe becoming strong contenders for the 2017 Afcon as well as 2018 Fifa World Cup.

“Obviously the nation is hurt that our national teams are out of continental competitions as much as we are. No one wants to fail in life and as such we do not want to be failures. Now that this has happened, what is important now is for us to sit as the board and come up with a framework that will make sure that the country emerges stronger in the next campaign. This gives us time to revisit our junior policy and make sure that we produce and nurture players for the future.

“Obviously we have to lay a strong foundation to make sure that our junior teams compete and participate at regional competitions but that will require money. Actually I inquired with the Zifa chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze on the status of our junior teams after lots of unsubstantiated reports that our Under-17s and 20s have been banned but there is no letter from Caf advising us such. I believe that the Young Warriors have been left out of some competitions because we do not have resources to send our teams and once we manage to harness resources all will be well,” said Hara.

On the Warriors who were carrying the country’s hopes of making it for the continental showpiece, Hara said they must not lose hope. “Like I said, there is no need to despair because we have talent right here in our local league. The team lost and as much as the coach shoulders blame, I think he did all that he could to make the nation proud. Remember he is the same man who led Zimbabwe to the semi-finals of the Chan tournament and as such, I am of the view that local is lekker because it is the locally based players that gave hope to the country and we mustn’t lose focus. We must applaud the Premier Soccer League for churning out good players that are capable of holding their own in continental competitions,” Hara said.