Zifa target successful Cape Verde raid

By Petros Kausiyo

ZIFA are not taking any chances with the Warriors’ final African Cup of Nations qualifier against Cape Verde and have set in motion a campaign to mobilise resources aimed at making the senior team’s trip to Praia next month a success.

The Warriors will visit the Atlantic Ocean island for their last Group A qualifying assignment on the weekend of October 7-9 in which they will need to beat Cape Verde and also hope that the results of other matches especially in the encounter between Liberia and Mali go in their favour.

Norman Mapeza’s men kept alive their hopes of securing a berth at the 2012 Nations Cup finals when they thumped Liberia 3-0 at the National Sports Stadium on September 4 and are still fancying their chances of winning Group A ahead of both the Eagles and Cape Verde.

But for Mapeza and his second-placed troops to be adequately prepared for the long trip to Praia, the administration has to put in place the necessary resources for both their camp and travel.

Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze revealed that the board had, at their last indaba, deliberated at length on the need to ensure that the Warriors complete their campaign for a place at the Nations Cup finals on a winning note.

Gabon and Equatorial Guinea will co-host the 2012 edition of the Nations Cup and Zimbabwe are hoping to qualify for only their third appearance at the continental soccer showpiece having featured at the 2004 and 2006 tournaments.

Mashingaidze said although they had failed to secure enough funds to charter a flight for the Warriors to Praia they had put in place an arrangement that will see Mapeza and his men travel to the Cape Verde capital via Dakar in Senegal.

“The board has already begun mobilising incentives for the team and that is being done through the marketing manager.

“Once the technical team announce their squad the air tickets will be sent out to the respective players and we are looking at a travel itinerary that will take them from Harare, Dakar to Praia and the same route on return.

“If possible those players going to Europe will connect straight from Cape Verde to their destinations after the match.

“We are looking for something that is less cumbersome and we would also like to urge our supporters to pool efforts to try and secure seats on the commercial flights as our resources are not going to permit for a charter flight like we did when we went to Liberia.

“But we would like to appeal to the corporate world to come up with a package for our supporters that can assist them to travel with the team . . . we need the 12th man to be there.

“We are also looking forward to the return of players like Knowledge Musona, who missed the last assignment because of injury, and players like Nyasha Mushekwi who were serving suspensions because we are now going for the kill,” Mashingaidze said.

Mashingaidze maintained that the Zifa board was “fully behind the Warriors and remain confident that they will make it”.

“We believe so much in this team and the secretariat has since been tasked by the board to put everything in place to ensure we are ready for the last game”.

Mashingaidze, however, said the Warriors could not regroup for a longer period owing to players’ various club commitments and the fact that there will be no international date for friendlies before the senior team’s tour of duty to Praia.

This means Mapeza would have to work with his team inside the five days within which players can be released by their clubs before an international assignment.

But away from laying the groundwork for the Warriors’ must-win visit to Cape Verde, the board also took time to reflect on a recent Fifa performance programme and took a strong stance on maximising revenue from TV rights and advertising.

“Zifa resolved that advertising, TV and broadcasting rights for matches under our jurisdiction are exclusive to the FA and will not be ceded to any party and from now on venues for Zifa matches will only be used on a clean stadium concept, they cannot be dressed by any other parties without the clearance from Zifa and we have the backing of Fifa and Caf on that”.

Fifa last month also sent two of their officials – Brendan Menton and Ashford Mamelodi – to assess the structures at Zifa and make recommendations aimed at strengthening the association’s capacity to administer the national game.

The world soccer governing body also stressed the need to have a clear separation and understanding of roles between the secretariat, headed by the CEO, and the executive committee amid concerns that board members appeared to be meddling in the day to day affairs of the association.

“The board is studying the report compiled by Menton and Mamelodi because Fifa were not happy with some of our statutes and some of the committees that we have.

“Once the board has done that they will bring the recommendations to the assembly for ratification and I am quite sure the next board meeting on 30 September will adopt the recommendations,” Mashingaidze said.