Warriors squad raises a lot of questions

FORMER Zimbabwe senior national soccer team captain Ephraim Chawanda has chided Zifa for trying to hide behind the political situation in Egypt as conditions for any opposition there are always very volatile, with or without the political turmoil.

The living soccer legend who led the national team during the Dream Team days under the late Reinhard Fabisch said the team needs to concentrate on winning and forget about the domestic issues in the North African nation.

Zimbabwe takes on the Pharaohs in a crucial Brazil 2014 World Cup qualifier on 26 March needing nothing other than a victory to revive their fading hopes of a maiden World Cup appearance.

The Warriors are third in Group G with a single point from two matches while their opponents are yet to drop points in the two matches they have played.

"From my experience Egypt maintains a volatile condition to all visiting teams and I don't believe the political situation there has a bearing on how we perform," said Chawanda.

Nicknamed the "Rock of Gibraltar" during his playing days, the Zimbabwe Saints legend was the skipper during the 1994 World Cup campaign under Fabisch when the Dream Team invaded the Pharaohs in Cairo and with the match delicately poised at 1-1 the Egyptians viciously attacked Fabisch and in the process recorded a 2-1 win. However, Fifa overturned the outcome and ordered a replay in Lyon, France, where the Egyptians were sensationally dumped out after a 0-0 draw.

The two teams have met once since then, in the Nations Cup finals in 2004.

On the composition of the team, Chawanda said head coach Klaus Dieter-Pagels could have gone for the so-called clean players in the aftermath of Asiagate.

"I strongly sympathise with the coach, that he had to come up with a competitive squad, on the aftermath of Asiagate and a botched final match to qualify for the Nations Cup finals in South Africa," said Chawanda.

However, the squad called by Pagels has raised a lot of questions on whether the influence of greedy player agents is still on the Zimbabwean soccer landscape or not.

Some of the boys called are not even enjoying game time at their respective clubs but have been entrusted with taking the nation to the dream land in Brazil. While the Dynamos trio of Patson Jaure, Ocean Mushure and Augustine Mbara have been playing well for the Harare giants, they needed an experienced defender like England-based Onesimo Bhasera and even former Caps United skipper Gilbert Mapemba who is with Moroka Swallows of South Africa.

Already, talk in the soccer corridors seems to suggest that Zifa have long given up on qualifying for the World Cup.

"That is not true at all, we cannot be there to make up numbers," said Zifa chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze when quizzed on the allegations.

The only foreign-based defender, Lincoln Zvasiya, who plays for Kaizer Chiefs, has played just 212 minutes for the South African giants in the 2012/13 season while Mapemba has 1 316 minutes of game time for Moroka Swallows. Bhasera has a total of 2 583 minutes in the present season.

For the crucial midfield area, Denver Mukamba has only made a substitute appearance for Bidvest Wits in South Africa this year while Archieford Gutu who plays in Sweden for Kalmar does not have much game time as well as the local duo of Silas Songani (Harare City) and Ronald Chitiyo (Monomotapa).

For the purpose of this game Pagels and crew could have called in the likes of Ovidy Karuru who has played 850 minutes of football for Leuven in the top Belgian league and before that had turned out for Boulogne in France where he played 269 minutes. Vusa Nyoni is enjoying his game for Mons, also in Belgium with six starts in six matches for Mons since joining them this year from Germinal Beerschot.

Another cause for concern is the strike force, all the five strikers called up have not scored in the few games that they have played this season while players at the peak of their scoring form have been ignored.

Germany-based Knowledge Musona who plays for struggling Augsburg has 737 minutes of game time in 24 matches but no goals.

On fire Orlando Pirates striker Takesure Chinyama who has scored seven goals so far including five in the Caf Champions League did not make it so did the third highest scorer in South Africa, Cuthbert Malajila (eight), Kingstone Nkhatha with seven goals and Terence Mandaza with five.