Sports / Soccer
Ian Gorowa, Zifa on collision course
03 Dec 2013 at 02:43hrs | Views
WARRIORS coach Ian Gorowa insists he wants the national team to hold their training camp in Johannesburg ahead of the African Nations Championships finals, setting the stage for a potential showdown with cash-strapped Zifa over the matter.
The Warriors will be making their third successive appearance at the CHAN tournament when the competition bursts into life in Cape Town on January 11.
Zimbabwe, who will headline Group B, are one of four seeded teams at the competition, courtesy of their consistent appearance at the tournament that is reserved only for those players plying their trade in their national leagues.
But the Warriors preparations are in danger of being plunged into limbo amid revelations that Gorowa insists he wants his men to hold their training camp in South Africa while penniless Zifa are mulling a local camp on the basis that they cannot raise the $100 000 required for the 20-day training camp.
Gorowa first indicated to Zifa three months ago during a meeting with the association's leadership in Egypt that he would prefer an intensive training camp in Johannesburg ahead of the start of the CHAN tournament with the former Moroka Swallows and Sundowns arguing that the home-grown Warriors needed an environment of top-class facilities in order to be adequately ready for the competition. The Warriors are in a group that also includes Morocco, Uganda and Burkina Faso.
Zimbabwe, who are yet to progress beyond the group stage in their last CHAN appearances in Cote d'Ivoire in 2009 and Sudan two years later, will begin their 2014 campaign with a date against Morocco's Atlas Lions at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on January 12.
Gorowa, who flew in from his base in Johannesburg, yesterday was due to hold a no-holds-barred indaba with Zifa officials last night, hours after meeting with his lieutenants Callisto Pasuwa and Mkhuphali Masuku to discuss the impending friendly match against Mozambique as well as the proposed game against Libya in Tripoli on December 13.
The 41-year-old coach told The Herald that he would prefer to have his charges go into a training camp after their friendly against Mozambique at Barbourfields on Sunday than fly out to Tripoli days after their clash against the Mambas.
"There is a reason why I want camp to be in South Africa because it is important for my players to understand how we play.
"Twenty days of intense training to me at this stage is more important than playing a game ahead of CHAN.
"I think after the Mozambique game we should go into camp and do our preparations as per the programme that I have designed. "At the moment our focus should be on winning the CHAN tournament but to do that we need to invest in training in a proper environment and we need to utilise the training facilities that are found in South Africa where I have also engaged specialists to assist us in areas like player conditioning.
"I do not want our requirements to be misconstrued as confrontation with Zifa and we should not frustrate each other but I believe the plan that we as the technical department have for this tournament is the best that can yield the desired results.
"I have negotiated a good package for our training camp and I think we must capitalise on that and it must be noted that everyone in our group is taking this tournament seriously that is why Uganda will be using the training facilities at Wits University soon after they finish with the Cecafa tournament," Gorowa said.
Gorowa was also only expected to announce the squad of locals that will face Mozambique after his meeting with the Zifa officials.
Zifa, however, seem to be eyeing a local training camp with the association's chief executive, Jonathan Mashingaidze, indicating that they were being pegged back by financial woes and had only agreed to the game against Libya because the North Africans were footing the travelling and accommodation expenses for the Warriors.
"At the moment we do not have any funds, we are holding a fund-raising dinner on Thursday where we will also revive the dollar for football campaign to try and raise money for the CHAN squad. "We have invited corporates and government to converge on December 5 for that dinner so that they appreciate what the Warriors need for CHAN. "Issues to do with flights and upkeep will be taken up by the Football Trust but we will leave it to the technical team to come up with their various preparations in terms of tactical and technical preparations," Mashingaidze said.
But after a disastrous 2013 Nations Cup campaign and the failure by the Warriors to win any of their 2014 World Cup qualifiers, Zifa and the nation would have to pull all the stops to ensure the Warriors impress at the CHAN tournament.
The Warriors will be making their third successive appearance at the CHAN tournament when the competition bursts into life in Cape Town on January 11.
Zimbabwe, who will headline Group B, are one of four seeded teams at the competition, courtesy of their consistent appearance at the tournament that is reserved only for those players plying their trade in their national leagues.
But the Warriors preparations are in danger of being plunged into limbo amid revelations that Gorowa insists he wants his men to hold their training camp in South Africa while penniless Zifa are mulling a local camp on the basis that they cannot raise the $100 000 required for the 20-day training camp.
Gorowa first indicated to Zifa three months ago during a meeting with the association's leadership in Egypt that he would prefer an intensive training camp in Johannesburg ahead of the start of the CHAN tournament with the former Moroka Swallows and Sundowns arguing that the home-grown Warriors needed an environment of top-class facilities in order to be adequately ready for the competition. The Warriors are in a group that also includes Morocco, Uganda and Burkina Faso.
Zimbabwe, who are yet to progress beyond the group stage in their last CHAN appearances in Cote d'Ivoire in 2009 and Sudan two years later, will begin their 2014 campaign with a date against Morocco's Atlas Lions at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on January 12.
Gorowa, who flew in from his base in Johannesburg, yesterday was due to hold a no-holds-barred indaba with Zifa officials last night, hours after meeting with his lieutenants Callisto Pasuwa and Mkhuphali Masuku to discuss the impending friendly match against Mozambique as well as the proposed game against Libya in Tripoli on December 13.
The 41-year-old coach told The Herald that he would prefer to have his charges go into a training camp after their friendly against Mozambique at Barbourfields on Sunday than fly out to Tripoli days after their clash against the Mambas.
"There is a reason why I want camp to be in South Africa because it is important for my players to understand how we play.
"Twenty days of intense training to me at this stage is more important than playing a game ahead of CHAN.
"I think after the Mozambique game we should go into camp and do our preparations as per the programme that I have designed. "At the moment our focus should be on winning the CHAN tournament but to do that we need to invest in training in a proper environment and we need to utilise the training facilities that are found in South Africa where I have also engaged specialists to assist us in areas like player conditioning.
"I do not want our requirements to be misconstrued as confrontation with Zifa and we should not frustrate each other but I believe the plan that we as the technical department have for this tournament is the best that can yield the desired results.
"I have negotiated a good package for our training camp and I think we must capitalise on that and it must be noted that everyone in our group is taking this tournament seriously that is why Uganda will be using the training facilities at Wits University soon after they finish with the Cecafa tournament," Gorowa said.
Gorowa was also only expected to announce the squad of locals that will face Mozambique after his meeting with the Zifa officials.
Zifa, however, seem to be eyeing a local training camp with the association's chief executive, Jonathan Mashingaidze, indicating that they were being pegged back by financial woes and had only agreed to the game against Libya because the North Africans were footing the travelling and accommodation expenses for the Warriors.
"At the moment we do not have any funds, we are holding a fund-raising dinner on Thursday where we will also revive the dollar for football campaign to try and raise money for the CHAN squad. "We have invited corporates and government to converge on December 5 for that dinner so that they appreciate what the Warriors need for CHAN. "Issues to do with flights and upkeep will be taken up by the Football Trust but we will leave it to the technical team to come up with their various preparations in terms of tactical and technical preparations," Mashingaidze said.
But after a disastrous 2013 Nations Cup campaign and the failure by the Warriors to win any of their 2014 World Cup qualifiers, Zifa and the nation would have to pull all the stops to ensure the Warriors impress at the CHAN tournament.
Source - herald
