Angered fans demand commission of inquiry

ZIMBABWE soccer fans, angered by the Warriors shameful exit from the 2010 World Cup and African Cup of Nations qualifying race, yesterday demanded a commission of inquiry into the problems rocking the national game.

Local fans have been struggling to come to terms with the humiliating manner in which the Warriors slumped to a 4-2 defeat by Namibia in their final Group Two preliminary round qualifier in Windhoek on Saturday.

That humiliation at the hands of the Brave Warriors of Namibia ranks as the worst performance by the senior national team in a World Cup qualifier.

It even makes the Warriors 2-0 home defeat by Swaziland in a 2002 Cosafa Castle Cup game pale into insignificance.

The pathetic showing by coach Valinhos’ men was virtually a great betrayal to a nation that had been rallying behind this team since they began their campaign with a brave 0-0 draw against Guinea in Conakry.

Yesterday, Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters’ Association leader Eddie "Mboma" Nyatanga said his membership had been angered by the Warriors pathetic show and had urged the Government, through the Sports and Recreation Commission, to open a full inquiry into the doomed campaign.

Nyatanga also demanded the resignation of the Warriors technical department and a public apology over the debacle from Zifa.

The Zifa board, Nyatanga also said, needed to take the flak over the senior team’s failure to proceed to the final qualifying round of the World Cup and African Cup of Nations campaigns.

"The coach and his entire technical department should just throw in the towel.

"But it is not only the coach who is to blame and we need a full commission of inquiry because this is our worst campaign ever. We cannot be humiliated by Namibia like this, it is just unacceptable.

"The ZIFA board should take a hard look at themselves in the mirror and look at the role they played in this debacle and I believe just like the technical department they should just throw in the towel," Nyatanga said.

As the Warriors of shame sneaked back into the country last night, Nyatanga said it was imperative that Zifa president Wellington Nyatanga issued an apology to the nation.

"Before the commission of inquiry starts, we also need a public apology from the Zifa chairman Wellington Nyatanga and I hope by the end of the day he would have issued one," he said.

ZIFA president Wellington Nyatanga who claimed soon after his election in March 2006 that he would quit his post of the Warriors failed to qualify for the 2010 World cup and African Cup of Nations, has however, been conspicuously quiet since Saturday’s debacle in Windhoek.

It was not yet clear by last night whether the Zifa board would also convene an urgent meeting to discuss the Warriors disaster that has left the senior team without any major international game until at lest September 2010.

Eddie Nyatanga also paid tribute to the local fans whom he said had been patient despite "being taken for granted by the local football authorities".

"Senegal is burning right now following their team’s exit from the same World Cup qualifiers but we have mature supporters here and we want to thank them for their patience but we must not take them for granted.

"That is why the Zifa chairman should apologise on behalf of his board without further delay."

Eddie Nyatanga also called for a sober approach in the soul searching that will follow the Warriors’ doomed campaign and felt there was an urgent need for the Zifa board, which had literally abandoned the Under-17 team to throw their full weight behind the Warriors.

Rodwell Dhlakama’s teenagers, who face Angola in a penultimate African Under-17 Championships qualifier early next month, have had to live on handouts from well-wishers while the Zifa board turned their focus on the Warriors.

It however, needed the humiliation in Windhoek to remind Zifa that the future generation of Warriors were the only national team still in contention for a continental tournament.

Such was the level of neglect that the Young Warriors were forced to abort an international friendly against Malawi just 26 minutes into the second half because organisers of a local cup game wanted to conduct television interviews from the pitch for the respective team managers.

Victory for the Young Warriors over Angola would guarantee them a place at the African Under-17 Championships in Algeria next January.

"We need solutions that will take our football further and part of those immediate solutions include giving full support to the Under-17 team and their coach Rodwell Dhlakama."