Home Editor's Picks Mhonda, Loga not good enough

Mhonda, Loga not good enough

by Bustop TV News


By Trevor Makonyonga

Zimbabwean soccer and women’s rugby performances have been on a downward spiral and the free fall has made many question the suitability of the coaches. The concerns are very decent given the fact that these coaches have overseen losing teams.

Of course, Zimbabwe National soccer team coach Zdravko Logarusic has somewhat of a justification in that he qualified for the Africa Cup of Nation’s (AFCON) with his one win. His effort was very minimal in those qualifiers because Joey Antipas had done half the job when he came through.

Loga has since participated in the CHAN and COSAFA tournaments with his teams being very underwhelming and unconvincing. Continuing on the job would probably render him the most lucky employee ever. Keeping Loga on the job is simply sending a message that as a nation, qualifying for tournaments is more important than challenging for honours. He just has to go.
Similarly, Munya Mhonda with the Zimbabwe lady Sables also has to gain some experience before being given the hot seat. He seems to have been employing and relying on the archaic 3-2-3, where forwards occupy half the field while backs the other half, this is probably the most ancient rugby fans have witnessed in the 21st century.
Like Logarusic, Mhonda’s results have been very bad losing to Zambia and Uganda and embarrassingly so too. In all the games he has been in charge, the tactics have been off. The ladies set pieces have been terrible, too many turnovers have been seen, there hasn’t been any support on of fence and the ladies have been playing like they have never trained together. In short, the rugby has been boring.
There is no way Zimbabwe will grow in women’s rugby with Mhonda in charge in the same way there is no way soccer won’t improve with Logarusic in charge.
Both coaches just came from out of the blues and their results are blowing fans away, literally. For Mhonda, maybe it is just the inexperience so maybe giving him an age group team will be better for now. As for Loga, he is a perennial underperformer so there should be no reason to fear to give him the sack.
There have been serious improvements in the men’s rugby side and 2023 is slowly becoming a real possibility and also the men’s cricket side where young talents have excited hope of being great again. This can easily happen in soccer and women’s rugby because there is abundant talent.
The talents also need good coaches to be behind them. Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) and Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU) ultimately have the final say.

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