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ZIMBABWE HOPING FOR BETTER IN AFCON

Posted in Zimbabwe Football.

For the third time since the history of the competition, Zimbabwe would be returning to the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) with the hope of shrugging of their minnows tag and making it to the top of the competition in 2017.


According to a statement published by cafonline.com which is the website of the African Football Confederation (CAF), the team is hoping to get better in this competition having failed in 2004 and 2006 to make it beyond the group stages of the tournament.

In terms of cumulative TV audience, the prestigious AFCON competition which is organized among African countries, is the third world football competition. It ranks only behind the FIFA World Cup and the European Nations Championship.

The 2017 edition of the event is sponsored by Total and hosted by Gabon. 16 strong teams will be competing for honours in this edition of the biennial championship. Zimbabwe have been placed in Group B with three other top countries which are Senegal, Tunisia and Algeria, all North African countries. (more…)

Zimbabwe Prepare for Important Friendlies against Zambia and Tanzania

Posted in Zimbabwe Football.

CallistoPasuwa is widely expected to reveal the players who will be a part of the Zimbabwe national team at the 2017 Nations Cup finals.


Most of the squad which is expected to be in the mind of the manager will be revealed through his team’s for the upcoming friendly games against Zambia and Tanzania. Both these are high-profile friendly games for the Zimbabwe national team and doing well is of major priority if the team is to maintain their confidence going into the finals. Zimbabwe have suffered only one defeat in the last six matches of all competitions, but it came in a away match against Guinea.

The upcoming friendlies against Zambia and Tanzania are the final games for the Zimbabwe national team before they take part in the finals. Zimbabwe have been grouped alongside Algeria, Senegal, and Tunisia at the 2017 African Cup of Nations. The National Sports stadium will be hosting both the matches, and it will be a great test for Zimbabwe considering that Zambia are part of the World Cup 2018 qualification chasing teams from Africa. (more…)

SAMORA WANTS FOOTBALLERS TO RUN ZIMBABWEAN FOOTBALL

Posted in Zimbabwe Football.

Stanley “Samora” Chirambadare of Revival Academy boys opines that football in the country should be run by footballers, not just any administrator.


He was leading a group of young players through their paces at Mufakose High in Harare. Having played at top professional level at Dynamos as a defender, Chirambadare says his dream is to develop football in the Mufakose community.

“When these kids reduce the levels of poverty in this community by playing football, I will be a happy man. There is money in football. If two or three kids can make it big in football, everybody else will learn that this is the right way to go,” Chirambadare said. Chirambadare says his focus is to develop football by exporting the mind of the young players. Chirambadare started the academy back in 2009, but has over 60 young footballers under his care. He is brothers with former Dynamos player Ernest Chirambadare.

“Football is for footballers, it’s not for supporters. Supporters can never run football. It will never work, it’s treasonous to put somebody who is not qualified in charge of things,” Chirambadare said. The 53-year old retired player claimed he is a fighter who has always stood for what he believed in. He used the president of Dynamos Kenny Mubaiwa as an example. He said the president was under pressure as he disregarded junior football, buying players season after season, without real development of football.
(more…)

PitsoMosimane says that Zimbabwe can win the 2017 African Cup of Nations

Posted in Zimbabwe Football.

Mamelodi Sundowns coach PitsoMosimane says that Zimbabwe are one of the potential candidates to win the only 2017 African Cup of Nations.


The tournament will be held in Gabon this time around. After having recently experienced new winners like Algeria take the mantle, it seems that the African Cup of Nations is gearing for more newcomers to lift the title. The national team has enjoyed a resurgence of sorts in recent months under the management ofCallistoPasuwa. He came to the job only in April 2015, but the team has now suffered only one defeat in the last nine games of all competitions.

Furthermore, they have managed to qualify for the African Cup of Nations with a game to spare. A 3-0 win over Malawi ensured that the national team can build on the good work done in recent months. The team finished top of the group with a three-point advantage over second placed Swaziland. Zimbabwe will be appearing at the African Cup of Nations after an extended absence. Their last appearance in this tournament came in 2006, while they have made only one other appearance – in 2004. Despite their limited experience when it comes to this major trophy, Zimbabwe will be able to make an impact only because of their recent form according toMosimane. (more…)

Zimbabwe cancels three matches

Posted in Zimbabwe Football.

The Zimbabwe Football Federation has canceled three top division football matches because of security reasons. Indeed the games between Highlanders and Triangle, Tsholotsho Pirates and Mutare City and Hwange and Bulawayo City have been canceled after consultation with the police.

There are fears that protests against Robert Mugabe might take place, but there has been no confirmation so far. The Zimbabwe football federation does not want to take any risk and has therefore canceled these matches.

However, the game between FC Platinum and Caps United will go on as previously scheduled. This will be an important game as far as the title is concerned. Indeed it will be second against third, and the match will definitely attract a great crowd. Both teams have enormous support, and we should expect a great atmosphere for such an important game.

At the moment Zimbabwe fans are also interested in the Euro 2016 tournament in France. Indeed many fans like to bet on these games and will be following the tournament with great interest. However, there are many Zimbabweans who had made losses in the Euro 2016 bets as outsiders had managed to snatch victory when they were expected to lose. Indeed, teams such as Wales, Iceland as well as Hungary have been producing unexpected results in France, and this has resulted in massive losses for punters. (more…)

Callisto Pasuwa confident on his Team for Castle Cup

Posted in Zimbabwe Football.

Zimbabwe coach Callisto Pasuwa claims that he is wary of the expectations over his team ahead of the 2016 COSAFA Castle Cup, which begins in a few weeks.


Zimbabwe head into the tournament looking to win the title for a record fifth time. The nation’s is the most successful in this competition after having won it four times – a record shared with Zambia. The other most successful teams in the competition are South Africa and Angola – both have won the title three times. Zimbabwe, though, will be looking to overcome the memories of last season’s tournament, which was very poor on all fronts.

Zimbabwe failed to get past the first round of the tournament and suffered a 4-1 loss to Namibia, which led to a second-place finish in the group. This time around, the nation will be up against the likes of Swaziland, Madagascar, and Seychelles in the group stages. The other group will feature teams like Angola, Mauritius, Malawi, and Lesotho. Pasuwa dismissed claims that Zimbabwe are overwhelming favourites to get a win. He says that there are no big and small teams when it comes to a tournament, as each team have come to the stage on merit. Zimbabwe’s last match ended in a 4-0 win over Swaziland and it will give them much-needed confidence. (more…)

ZIMBABWE AFRICAN CUP QUALIFICATION HOPES ALIVE

Posted in Zimbabwe Football.

The Warriors as popularly touted had a resounding victory against Swaziland. Zimbabwe won the match with a convincing 4-0 victory. The AFCON qualifier match was played at the National Sport Stadium with Zimbabwe ending the hopes of Swaziland. Swaziland is one of the teams not to have featured in the Cup Finals.

The Callisto Pasuwa led team came with victory in mind. They attacked Swaziland from the get-go. The Warriors started creating chances from the first minute as they knew an early goal would rattle their fearful opponents. Marshall Mudehwe and Kuda Mahachi led the creative play and it almost had a goal within the first few minutes of play. Midfielder,

Marvelous Nakamba sustained attacks against Swaziland but the attacks were always foiled last minute. Marshali Mudehwe had the best chance of the opening minutes but his shot was too weak to challenge the Swaziland goal stopper.

The Swaziland team was not all dull. In the 24th minute, they made a sustained attack that even scored but was ruled offside by the linesman. Zimbabwe felt threatened with the disallowed goal. So they pressed in the 35th minute. Musona almost scored with a well played shot that forced the best from the swaziland goal keeper.

As at halftime, The Warriors were yet to break the deadlock despite the flurry of attacks against the seemingly compact opposition. Immediately after the break, Callisto Pasuwa made several changes. He sent in Khama Billit to replace Marshall Mudehwe. The attacks from the Warriors continued. It resulted in a foul in the box when Kuda Mahachi was brought down by the Swaziland defense. Musona put the well struck penalty past the goal keeper.

The pressure continued and was rewarded with another goal that broke the resolve of the Swaziland team. Costa Nhamoinesu, a Zimbabwean defender headed home the goal after substitute Khama Billit sent a well played free kick in the 58th minute. (more…)

Guus Hiddink reckons the level of Football in English Premiership

Posted in Zimbabwe Football.

Guus Hiddink reckons the level of Football in English Premiership is not the same as it was when he was into his first stint as the manager of Chelsea.

Hiddink had had a short stint at Chelsea a few years back.

According to him, at that time, the competition was used to be amongst the top 4 or 5 teams and the rest of the teams were not able to put up that much of a fight, but, what he is seeing this time around is that it has got much tighter and the minnows have also started winning games on a consistent basis.

Hiddink was quoted as saying, “I can see the Football in England is more intense now than before and you can’t take anyone for granted. “

“The teams who would always be around bottom 3 in the past are in the top half of the table these days because they are playing quality Football.”

“And, the fact that they have grown in quality and have fetched good results, it is now allowing them to lure top players in the world to join in.”

Hiddink, who is not the permanent boss of Chelsea this time around either and is at Stamford only on an interim basis just like it was the case with him in 2009, dropped hints that he would be looking to give opportunities to the youngsters in Chelsea Academy to play in the top tier, but, only if he feels they are good enough to take the pressure. (more…)

Zimbabwe coach Callisto Pasuwa has warned his players against complacency

Posted in Zimbabwe Football.

Zimbabwe coach Callisto Pasuwa has warned his players against complacency when they take on Comoros in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier. After having recently achieved a 2-1 win over Malawi, the team will be feeling confident ahead of this home clash.

Comoros are rated as one of the minnows in African football, butPasuwa states that this game could be a potential banana skin for the home team. Zimbabwe have been on a roll in recent months after achieving numerous victories. The 4-1 defeat against Namibia stands out as the only disappointing return in the last couple of months.

Zimbabwe were in the same group along with Swaziland, Guinea, and Malawi. After this positive result in the opening match, the national team will feel confident about their chances of reaching the 2016 Africa Cup of Nations tournament.Pasuwa has managed to achieve this result by introducing a lot of freshness into the national team. There are some players who are part of the under 23 team, while the remaining have made up of the domestic top names. The two have combined extremely well and the tactics ofPasuwa cannot be better at the moment.Pasuwa was appointed as the coach only in April 2015 and he has since suffered only one defeat. (more…)

Zimbabwean football has suffered a major setback

Posted in Zimbabwe Football.

Zimbabwean football has suffered a major setback after FIFA decided to eliminate them from the upcoming 2018 World Cup qualifiers – even before it has begun – due to the outstanding payments that the national team have with former coach Jose ClaudineiGeorgini.

Zimbabwe are currently coached by Ian Gorowa and the team has largely been playing in friendly matches and African tournaments due to their latest suspension from FIFA. The lack of support from the government means that Zimbabwean FA finds itself in a huge amount of debt. As a result, they have been unable to pay their former coach.

The communications manager of the Zimbabwe FA says that they will be appealing against this decision by the world football Council. However, any resolution will have to be swift since the World Cup qualifying matches will start from October once the draw is made in July. Zimbabwe have never qualified for a World Cup tournament and they do not seem in a great position to do so once again. The team were knocked out of the Africa Cup of Nations in the qualification stage to add to the misery. The last competitive match played by Zimbabwe was back in June 2014 when they were involved in a 2-2 draw against Tanzania during the two legged qualification match. (more…)