By Trevor Makonyonga
Zimbabwean giants and African minnows, FC Platinum finally got a point in their CAF Champions league group in a 1-1 draw against Al Ahly of Egypt. The victory sounds like a routine trumpet in Zimbabwe because our teams have been struggling continentally and never win.
But in all fairness it is great that at least a Zimbabwean team secured a point in a continental showcase. These somewhat great trumpet sounds would have found their way to the cricket boys who have a tough (every Zim game these days is tough) home series against Sri Lanka.
It has to be recorded that Zimbabwe will probably do their best given what is at hand but truthfully some bit of miracle (or more) that got FC Platinum a point against Al Ahly is needed.
*Beautiful send off*
Lizwe Sweswe will be proud of himself for motivating his charges to at least get a goal and a point. To say that FC Platinum played to their best could be a lie because the way they have dominated the Zimbabwean league shows their true nature.
But from another truthful angle they are just not good enough. In fact the whole of Zimbabwe soccer circuit is a joke. Recently, Dynamos signed Katema for six months and failed to pay him his dues amounting to US$10 000.
Sport administration has never been Zimbabwe’s greatest strength but at least efforts of making it right have to be made. Financial giants like Platinum do not have any reason of failing to secure points because they can get whoever they want.
Keeping an average team that cannot play in the continent is a problem. They have to widen their roaster with great players so as to promote competition. This thing of qualifying for continental football and playing like schoolboys has to stop. At least they played for departing coach too bad or they do not have fans to play for.
Going forward, assemble a beast of a team that will bring glory back to the nation and maybe the national administration will stop with the ongoing catfights. We need good news for once.
*Welcome to our dingy aboard*
Zimbabwe Cricket welcomes Sri Lanka in a few days. The team will be in Zimbabwe from the 19th to the 31st of January this year. Firstly, it is commendable that the national team selectors managed to select a team.
The franchise league in Zimbabwe has been dominated by not so good players who sometimes churn out good performances.
The nation’s curse is that the provincial leagues are run like they do not exist which then leads to a stale team selection. It is appalling that age groups perform well while the senior team is virtually dead. This shows how dead the leagues are because these players we are sticking to in the league setups are malperformers.
We are that bad. If we manage to win a game against Sri Lanka or the series then we have to build on that. Unfortunately Zimbabwe Cricket is not well structured in terms of development. On paper they have proper structures but reality tells a different story.
Off course Zimbabweans these days love to exclaim and parade their poverty but the administration does have enough to channel the sport forward if they choose to.
For now it is suffice to say goodluck on the series against Sri Lanka. They need the luck and hope they are doing the 10 days of prayer and fasting too.
