Warriors must play meaningful friendlies

By Lovemore Dube

I caught up with Zimbabwe football legend Agent Sawu who spoke about the anguish of seeing the Warriors miss out at participating at the continental finals and his delight in eventually being part of the country’s maiden participation in Tunisia in 2004.

Sawu believes Zimbabwe, who were drawn with hosts Egypt, Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda can draw lessons from past participation and do better.

He says preparations would have to be thorough and that the country would have to play friendlies with countries from neighbouring states of those that they have been drawn against.

This he says has tended to give a better insight to playing style and physique of the opponents ahead of such events. Rubbing shoulders with teams from further geographical areas from their opponents may not yield envisaged results.

In the three previous tournaments 2004, 2006 and 2017, the Warriors failed to proceed beyond the first round. This was blamed on poor funding and preparations but this time around the Warriors are better off after the Confederation of African Football announced that every participating team would be given an advance of US$260 000 for preparations.

Sunday News Leisure Sports’ Lovemore Dube (LD) speaks to Sawu (AS):

LD: Ajira, you were already seeing what was happening in the football world when Morocco played host to the Afcon tournament in 1988 in which a cast of football greats led by Madinda Ndlovu, Ephraim Chawanda, Alexander Maseko, Willard Khumalo, Mercedes Sibanda, Moses Chunga, Stanley Ndunduma, Japhet Mparutsa, Joel Shambo, Friday Phiri, Misheck Chidzambwa failed to qualify for. What was your view about the event as a budding teenage footballer?

AS: Because we had never been there, appreciation of the magnitude of the event was poor. Another factor, coverage of such events was too scarce for us in this part of the continent, there was not as much television coverage of such. As television coverage improved and more of the masses owned television sets, the tournament’s appeal grew.

Looking back at the talent we had in the 1980s I have no doubt doors would have opened to them to attract scouts after taking part in the event. Major events like that have scouts of big clubs prying over and this could have improved our football if some of that class had gotten a chance to move abroad.

LD: Between the Algeria (1990) and Senegal (1992) assignments you had grown in stature and were part of the national team equation, how did it feel failing to make it at the last minute after the monumental collapse against Congo-Brazaville when it looked easier to confirm the ticket to the finals the next day?

AS: I had moved to Cyprus by then and I was playing cameo roles in the national team. As a footballer and of course the nation too, we were all disappointed by the result. We had hoped that we would tuck that one in and turn a new leaf. The tournament to us Zimbabweans was growing in popularity due to numbers of people with television sets and better media coverage.

LD: Fast forward to the Dream Team era in which you were an integral part, how did you feel about missing out at the last hurdle again, this time at the hands of a Kalusha Bwalya sucker punch?

AS: I remember we had been having a good run in both the World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. Zimbabwe was abuzz with the team’s good run and failure to qualify was as painful to us the players as it was to the expectant nation. We deserved to qualify, we had a good team, all seemed to go well for us but we could not qualify for both tournaments. We were very disappointed.

LD: Agent, you went on to play a part in the qualifiers for the 1996, 1998 and 2002 qualifiers but to no avail, as a professional footballer in Switzerland, you had a number of players coming back to Africa to represent their respective countries in the Afcon finals, how did it feel staying back at club?

AS: It was bad seeing fellow African stars like David Nyathi, Shaun Bartlett and Philemon Chippa Masinga of South Africa, Nigerians Ike Shorumu and Rashid Yekini including some Ghananias. We loathed playing at that level and every time we gave that tournament the best we could for our country.

The talent was there but at times when I look back we did not do enough in terms of preparations to qualify for major events and very few of us were lucky to get exposure outside the country to improve the game. If you do not prepare for any event to qualify you are bound to fail.

LD: Lady Luck smiled on the nation in 2003 and you were part of the team in Zimbabwe’s maiden participation in the 2004 Afcon finals staged by Tunisia. You were in the twilight stages of your career, how did it feel like after so many years of trying?

AS: Actually let me correct you, it was not in the twilight stages of my career, remember I returned to the country some months into the season and scored 26 league and cup goals for Dynamos in 2003. I got better with age like wine. It was a great thing for me as an individual player and others including the whole of Zimbabwe. We deserved to qualify for that tournament a number of times but because of preparations we always failed.

To have scored (as Warriors) in each of the three matches we played as a nation was a good measure of success for us debutants. We lost 5-3 to Cameroon, 2-1 to both Algeria and Egypt. It was a learning curve and good for our country to be among the best in Africa.

Perhaps with better preparations which could have included the right countries for friendly matches we could have done better. We take heart in that we played some of the top countries in Africa and showed great character.

LD: You missed the next Afcon finals in 2006 and you had long retired by 2017 when Zimbabwe made its last appearance, what’s your view about the country’s chances this year.

AS: The onus of coming up with a good team lies in the coaches. I am confident in Sunday Chidzambwa and his assistants. They are competent men and there is a good pool of players to choose from. That is not enough though, they should go into camp together for a while, play friendly matches with relevant opposition.

For instance they are in the same group with Egypt, they need opposition from North Africa, for Democratic Republic Congo its neighbours and Uganda teams from Central Africa. This may help in so far as type of play is concerned and other features about opposition which include physique. If we prepare well, we will do better than before.

Agent Sawu is a former Zimbabwe Saints and Dynamos goal poacher who spent some time playing in Europe and China. He had the distinction of being among the top 11 players in the country in 1993 when he left for Europe and rocking the chats on his return 10 years later where he was a hit at Dynamos.

In Switzerland he played for clubs such as FC Lurzen, SC Young Boys, FC Basel and FC Wil. He had a stint in Cyprus where he had turned out for Apop later to change to Paphos in 1991-92. He had a year’s stint in China’s Chong Qing Lifan before his return to home shores and was to wind up an 18-year-old career at several South African clubs Bush Bucks, City Pillars and Durban FC.

He began his coaching career in South Africa and has had stints with Ntabazinduna Prison TD, Zimbabwe Saints, Bulawayo Province Youth Games and the Zimbabwe Under-17 team. He has also been asked by a number of clubs to assist as a finishing coach. Sawu is a Caf B licence holder and holds an English Football Association Coaching Licence.

He is among Zimbabwe’s highest scorers with a return of 25 goals from 75 internationals and for a long time partnered Peter Ndlovu and his elder brother Adam from junior national teams to the Warriors where at some stage with legendary Madinda Ndlovu, they carried the nation’s hopes in attack during the Dream Team days. Sunday News