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Langton Nyakwenda 

FORMER Warriors coach, Wieslaw Grabowski, wants his protege Norman Mapeza to be given the national team job on a long term contract. 

Mapeza is the interim coach and took charge of the Warriors in a Four-Nation friendly tournament in Malawi. 

Zimbabwe lost 3-1 against Kenya in the final at Bingu Stadium on Tuesday. 

Mapeza has come under fire in the aftermath of that tournament. 

Some analysts are questioning Mapeza’s tactics and team selection. 

However, Grabowski who coached Mapeza at Darryn T in the early 1990s, reasons that his protege should not be used as a scapegoat for ZIFA’S perennial deficiency in long term planning. 

“A national team coach needs more time with the players for them to get to understand his ideas, tactics and philosophy,” says Grabowski. 

“This is not an overnight thing, you need to give the coach a long term contract, draft your objectives and also make it clear how you intend to achieve those goals.

“As a nation we should also be playing more friendly matches, if ZIFA fail to get a sparring team, they can even arrange a match against a Premier Soccer League select squad or something.” 

Grabowski believes Mapeza is one of the best coaches Zimbabwe has at the moment. 

“Mapeza is an intelligent coach, he played football at the highest level in Europe and also captained the Warriors. 

“He also won Premier Soccer League titles here in Zimbabwe, so in terms of his CV the guy is well positioned.” 

Mapeza has four league titles, one with Monomotapa and three with FC Platinum. 

His performances on the international scene have however often came under heavy scrutiny. 

He failed to go past the Group stage at the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Cameroon. 

But, Grabowski feels Mapeza is not getting enough support and time. 

On the recently held Four-Nations friendly tournament, Grabowski said:  “Yes, Mapeza may be blamed by some for not playing some players in the friendly matches but with time everything will fall into the right place. 

“Coaches keep learning from situations, so people should also allow Mapeza to learn.

“But, learning needs time and patience something that is lacking in our football. 

“We always want to go for quick fix solutions and when we fail, we end up being like someone who has jumped into a swimming pool without water.”