Pasuwa de-facto Warriors coach
PASUWA NATIONAL

Kallisto Pasuwa

Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
DYNAMOS coach Callisto Pasuwa looks set to become the de facto Warriors mentor following Ian Gorowa’s resignation and the move by Zifa to disband the senior team and instead focus their immediate attention to the national Under-23 side.With the Warriors out of contention for the 2015 African Cup of Nations qualifiers and without any major assignment in sight for the national team, Zifa believe the Young Warriors should step in and fulfil any obligations.

Zifa had since the Warriors’ embarrassing failure to go beyond the first round of the preliminary stage been under intense pressure to revisit their development policies and put more emphasis on building stronger youth teams.

It has emerged that the Zifa board resolved to adopt the recommendations of the High Performance Technical Committee they set up to review the situation in all national teams and make recommendations.

The HPTC is, an ad-hoc committee that is chaired by Zifa board member John Phiri and includes former Warriors coaches, Gibson Homela, Misheck Chidzambwa and Benedict Moyo, retired referee Wilfred Mukuna, Zifa technical director Maxwell Takaendesa Jongwe , Cosmas “Tsano’’ Zulu, Charles Sibanda and Coaches Association chairman Bhekimpilo Nyoni.

The Saturday Herald can, however, reveal that Pasuwa, who was also Gorowa’s trusted lieutenant in the Warriors set-up, will be handed the substantive mandate to guide the national Under-23 side with Hwange gaffer Nation Dube assisting him together with Jairos Tapera who will come into the set up by virtue of being the national Under-20 coach.

With the Zifa board agreeing to implement the HPTC’s recommendations to make Pasuwa the substantive Under-23 coach and that they put more emphasis on the youth teams, the Dynamos gaffer is poised to double as Warriors mentor.

There are also indications that that the Cosafa Senior Challenge Cup, which had been scheduled or Botswana next month before being cancelled, could yet be reinstated with South Africa taking over as hosts.

Should that tournament materialise in late November or early December, it would provide Pasuwa and his team that is expected to comprise largely Under-23 players, with his first assignment.

It will be a similar scenario should Zifa receive and confirm any invitation for an international friendly.

Zifa sources said yesterday that the association wanted to take a leaf from such countries like Ghana who have always invested heavily in their Under-20 side which in turn formed the core of the Black Stars World Cup and African Cup if Nations squad.

“There has been agreement in the Zifa board that immediate attention should be on the Under-23 men’s Olympic team and the rest of the youth teams from Under-13 level.
“Of course there could be some assignments which may require the senior team to play but that senior team should be built from players who are genuinely Under-23.

“It is not the first time that Zifa has tried to that and in fact the Dream Team that everybody talks about was actually built around the Under-23 team that had competed at the 1991 All-Africa Games in Egypt.

“So there is a strong feeling that if properly identified and nurtured, the majority of the Under-23 players will form the next Warriors squad and this does not mean that the door has been shut on the talented players who are over 23 years old but not very old.

“At the moment Zifa is also broke and cannot hire a new national coach more so with no major assignments to take charge of so the board thinks that this is the chance to build without the pressure of qualifiers,’’ the sources said.

It also emerged that the HPTC recommended that Zifa should appoint coaches who will help in identifying players across the country as well as ensure that that NAPH and NASH provide the assistant coaches for the Under-13 and Under-15 Boys and Girls teams.

“There is need for the national selectors to cast the selection net wider and select the best players and not based on regionalism as is the case with most teams especially the juniors which are dominated by Harare and Bulawayo.

“We need to have regional coaches to make it easier for planning purposes. The committee recommended that at least two members of the HPTC be allowed to travel with the national team on  every assignment as this the only way that the committee can be able to assess and come up with recommendations and other contributions.

“The HPTC cannot assess games they were not involved in. It was also proposed that there shall be a committee to come up with a code of ethics for all the national teams technical personnel,’’ wrote the High Performance Committee.

 

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