Dube gives the Warriors their Wings

By Robson Sharuko

ZIFA president, Cuthbert Dube, has bailed out the Warriors by bankrolling their trip to Zambia this morning on a mission to defend the Cosafa Senior Challenge Cup crown they won in style on home soil four years ago. 

Zimbabwe, who won the regional tournament after a 3-1 home win over Zambia at Rufaro in 2009, begin their title defence with a quarter-final showdown against Malawi on Saturday.

The senior national team, which had been scheduled to go on a road trip to Lusaka today, will now fly on a chartered Air Zimbabwe plane this morning after Dube intervened and paid for the chartered flight yesterday.

The Warriors were the only visiting team for the region’s biggest football festival, back on the radar after a four-year absence, who had been scheduled to arrive by road with organisers of the tournament publishing a schedule which showed their entry point into Zambia as Chirundu border post.

But all that changed yesterday when the Zifa president decided to dip into his coffers and pay for a chartered Air Zimbabwe plane that is scheduled to leave Harare at 9am this morning for the short flight to Lusaka.

The plane will drop the Warriors today, as they begin their preparations in Lusaka for the defence of their crown, and will then return to pick them up at the end of their tour of duty, hopefully bringing the trophy back to Harare.

After the chaos that marked the Warriors’ ill-fated trip to Guinea, for a 2014 World Cup qualifier that they lost 0-1 with the blame being put squarely on the shambolic travel plan, the latest arrangements will come as a refreshing breeze for a team that has suffered so much in recent months.

Dube was away on Fifa business in Brazil, where he was a member of the world football governing body’s organising committee of the tournament, when business seemingly ground to a halt at Zifa and the Warriors’ trip to Guinea turned into a nightmare for the players and their coaching staff.

Yesterday, the Zifa president said harsh lessons had been learnt from the chaos that surrounded the Warriors’ last trip and, although the association was reeling under a severe financial squeeze, he had decided to lead from the front and commit his personal funds for their trip to Lusaka.

Zifa are reeling under a US$4million debt, and badly needs corporate and Government support to lift them from that quagmire of arrears, which has badly compromised their ability to service their commitments, including the national football teams.

Dube yesterday told The Herald that he was merely playing his role, as the leader of the association, and felt there was need for them to have a fresh beginning, starting with this Cosafa Senior Challenge Cup, by closing a chapter that has been dominated by challenges.

“The Warriors are leaving tomorrow (today), on a chartered flight, and we have sorted out the payments for that flight for them to go to Zambia and to be brought back home, and we hope they will be flying back with the trophy as part of their luggage,” said Dube.

“We are trying, as much as we can, to learn from the challenges we have had in the past and, as the leader of football here, I know that the buck stops with me and I have to be seen to go the extra mile, just to make sure that things are in order, even during the times when we have serious problems.

“It’s not a secret that we don’t have money as an association and we are heavily in debt and we have been asking for partners, from the companies to the Government, so that we can fulfil our mandate, as a united nation, to ensure that our football moves forward and our teams also start getting the results that we all want.

“We all like our Warriors to be successful but to get there, we all need to sacrifice a bit because the team belongs to all of us and its success is our success as a nation, and its failure is also our failure as a nation.

“As an individual, I can only do so much but the long-term solution is that the Government should play a big part in helping to fund football and we also hope that, as we now go forward, our corporate partners will also see our determination and come forward and help us because it’s the national flag that the Warriors are flying.

“I’m happy that there are no hassles, this time around, and our boys will not spend hours on the road and will just take a short flight to Zambia and arrive there in time for them to rest and then turn their focus on bringing the trophy back home where it belongs.

“My plea to the nation is that let’s get united, we can do more for our football if we come together, and I am just a leader but the game belongs to all of us and the Warriors belong to all of us, we all want them to win.”

The Zifa president also revealed that former Zimbabwe international forward, Ian Gorowa, will not be travelling with the Warriors to Zambia for the Cosafa Senior Challenge Cup defence.

Gorowa is one of the assistant coaches of the Warriors, initially tasked with monitoring the players in the South African Premiership and Europe, but had largely remained inactive until he arrived in Harare on Monday for a meeting with Dube and his chief executive, Jonathan Mashingaidze, the following day.

Sources had told The Herald that Gorowa was set to travel with the Warriors to Lusaka, as one of coach Dieter Klaus Pagels’ backroom staff, but Dube said the former Sundowns’ coach will not be part of the national team delegation.

“I had a meeting with Ian, he is very enthusiastic about what he wants to do and how he can help our national team, and I also had a meeting with Pagels and I can only say, at the moment, that Ian will not be going to Zambia,” said Dube.

“Whatever we are trying to do, in terms of the Warriors, I don’t think it’s proper that we disrupt a set-up that has been there, especially when we have a big tournament that we have to play and a title that must be defended.

“As Zifa we will only release an official statement, in terms of the set-up of the Warriors’ technical team, after we have completed our task in Zambia because we should not distract the nation and the players’ attention from the main task at hand, which is to defend our crown in Lusaka.”

Pagels will leave his post as Warriors’ interim coach, after this tournament, and has already secured a job, on a six-month contract, as a sports teacher at a school in his hometown of Stade in Germany.

Gorowa looks in prime position to return home, when Pagels leaves, to take over as the Warriors’ coach although the Zifa leadership is not making an official comments on that.

Two years ago, Dube came to the rescue of his financially-troubled association by bankrolling the Warriors’ trip to Mali, again on a chartered Air Zimbabwe passenger jet, for a 2012 Nations Cup qualifier.

The national team was in danger of failing to fulfil the fixture after Zifa failed to secure any financial support from either the Government or the corporate sector but Dube dug deep into his coffers and released US$200 000 for the trip. The Herald