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Ricky Zililo Saturday Leisure Reporter
THE Cosafa Castle Cup has come and gone.Last Saturday Zambia were crowned the champions of the region after beating Zimbabwe 2-0 in a pulsating final played at Ndola’s impressive Levy Mwanawasa Stadium.In that match, the Warriors dominated in terms of possession but failed to penetrate Chipolopolo’s defence.
It was always going to be difficult for the Warriors but they fared well, enjoying ball possession for the better part of the game.

The atmosphere in and outside the 40 000 capacity stadium was just phenomenal, with the streets painted in gold and green — Zambian colours. What became clear to everyone was that the Zambians are very much patriotic and passionately love their national team.

Actually, Zimbabwe lost the game even before kickoff as the stadium atmosphere was just intimidating aided by warm-up drills that Zambia were having.

The issue of players’ allowances also played a part as the Warriors were unsettled after having their daily allowances reduced from $50 to $25.
That ambiance in and out of the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium brought fond memories of the good old days when Zimbabweans used to love their national team. Those were the days of the Dream Team.

Then, football was a true unifier with players selected on merit, the administrators were people with great passion for the game. There was no room for egos as everyone had their eyes on improving the game. Administrators then had gained from the retention of predecessor value where incumbents easily related with their predecessors all with the common goal of advancing the cause of the beautiful game.

Then, football enthusiasts passionately supported the Dream Team.
Today, the sparkle that once was a ray of hope for a better footballing nation has faded with people driven by egos more than the passion for the game taking charge and killing soccer in Zimbabwe.

Our neighbours Zambia have developed better than us and it will not be surprising to see them playing host to the continental showpiece — the Africa Cup of Nations —very soon.

Zambia has laid the foundation to launch a successful bid to host a major soccer tournament like the Afcon by doing simple things that matter in football.

The first lesson for Zifa is that the national team being the flagship of the country has to be presentable all the time.
It was embarrassing that the Warriors were not well kitted at such a major tournament. That psychologically affects the players and paints a bad image about the football leadership of the country.

The Warriors played wearing a Puma branded kit but wore Diadora tracksuits.
Zambia has a deal with Nike while South Africa have Puma as their kit sponsors.

Botswana, Lesotho and even Malawi had their players in uniform from head to toes.
National teams must at all times be presentable and it is Zifa’s obligation that all national teams are presentable all the time.

What Zifa seem to fail to understand is that they stand to generate more revenue if they manage to get a kit deal. This means that they can sell replicas because fans are in dire need of national team jerseys.

Lack of Warriors’ replicas has led to supporters wearing other countries’ jerseys when they go for national team matches. Some of the popular kits that fans wear are those of South Africa and Brazil.

In Zambia, the Chipolopolo jersey is sold everywhere and one can get an original replica from a street vendor for 125kwacha which is equivalent to $25.

Away from replicas and team presentation, accountability and doing things above board seem to have done the trick for Zambian football.
Their government and the corporate world have been supportive because the football mother body is transparent.

The Zambian Football Federation has managed to get its government to build them a state-of-the-art stadium in the form of Levy Mwanawasa Stadium and their National Sports Stadium which will be renamed to Heroes National Stadium in Lusaka is also being turned into a magnificent facility.
Lastly, Zifa must avoid high turnover of coaches.