Confusion reigns supreme within the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) after interim Warriors coach Jairos Tapera publicly distanced himself from the squads announced for the forthcoming 2024 COSAFA Cup.
Tapera threw ZIFA under the bus by revealing to the Zimpapers Sports Hub that he had no involvement in the selection of players who will do duty at the regional tournament from 27 June to 2 July in Gqeberha, South Africa.
“I don’t know who (at ZIFA) released the two teams,” declared Tapera, as quoted by H-Metro. “I haven’t announced anything yet, you will all know when I pick my own players.”
This comes at a time ZIFA announced two seperate squads, firstly on Friday at midnight and secondly a revised 23-man squad yesterday morning.
This unprofessianal situation further exposes a concerning trend of serious disorganization within ZIFA.
It’s not the first time a coach has been seemingly sidelined in player selection.
The issue first began during the era of former Warriors coach Baltemar Brito, who served as the first coach under the ZIFA Normalisation Committee.
There was speculation that Brito did not select the squad when he took charge of the team in two World Cup qualifiers in Rwanda in November.
As if that was not enough, the similar trend surrounding player selection by ZIFA without the coach’s knowledge, resurfaced again.
That was in the recent Four Nations tournament held in Malawi in March as well as in the just ended two World Cup qualifiers played in South Africa.
