When it comes to sport in Zimbabwe, almost all disciplines cry foul over a lack of adequate preparation when they fall short in terms of their results. This, however, should not be the case. We believe coaches should be given the needed resources so that they can prove their mettle on an even playing field, literally.
We raise the issue of preparations as the senior national team, the Warriors, will need to prepare for their 2022 World Cup qualifiers, Cosafa and Chan tournaments before the end of the year.
The Wolrd Cup qualifiers kick off in September for the Warriors and it is quite heartening that we are seeing things being done differently, and probably, for the better.
Football clubs nurture our soccer stars that go on to flourish around the world, and through their exploits, sometimes earn success for the national team.
It is against this background that we would like to applaud the promise of a closer co-operation between the national team coach Zdravko Logarusic and coaches of premier soccer league clubs.
The mutual respect is quite important and could form the much-needed springboard for transparent selection and better communication between the teams and the technical structures of the national side.
There was a time when the selection of players and their availability for national duty seemed like a tug of war between the coaches, with the teams in the league sometimes feeling they needed their best players for their assignments while the national side structures also felt the national cause superseded everything else.
The national team coach, we understand, will be doing the rounds around the country watching all players in action during the Chibuku Super Cup Tournament, and getting to interact with the coaches. This is important.
Players thrive within certain structures, cultures and combinations, and such an understanding can assist the technical teams when they share notes to ensure that they put players where they are best suited.
We have had players that went outside the country for trials and were rejected, only to come back, dust themselves and prove to the world that they were not useless as deemed elsewhere but that they were not given the best opportunities.
We would like to urge the Zimbabwe Football Association and the Premier Soccer League to encourage the co-operation of our soccer coaches, and also make them aware that they are not in competition when it comes to developing the players for the national cause.
We may have missed a chance for friendly games that some of our opponents utilised but we must not despair.
Instead, let us forge ahead and come up with several teams, ensuring all positions have able personnel so that in the event of an injury to a player, their replacement never raises any eyebrows.
We believe a closer working environment will also put our local coaches in good stead to succeed the incumbents in future, having had an appreciation of the systems in practice.
