Zifa In Another Costly Boob

By Monday evening the team was still holed up in Harare with promises from Zifa Chief Executive Officer, Jonathan Mashingaidze, that they would leave Tuesday morning for Congo bringing into question whether they will be able to arrive in time for the game in Brazzaville set for the same day.

Worse still are question marks whether the Young Warriors will be able to put up their best performance should they arrive in Congo a few hours before the game.

Zimbabwe already trail Congo Brazzaville 1-2 after losing the first leg played at Rufaro Stadium in October.

Mashingaidze could not reveal how the team would be travelling after the Young Warriors initially failed to travel Saturday amid revelations that Zifa had failed to raise funds required for the team’s trip.

The fixture released by the Confederation of African Football is clear that the match is scheduled for Tuesday. The match was supposed to have been played long back but Zifa asked for a postponement due to the on-going ‘O’ level exams.

The latest developments have reminded many of the same situations that saw the Under 20 failing to travel to Angola to fulfil the return leg of their African Youth Championship.

Should the Young Warriors fail to travel they will be thrown out of the Under 17 tournament the same way the Under 20 was thrown out. In addition, the two teams face a lengthy ban from international football.

The other teams in the run for the finals to be held in Algeria have already fulfilled both their second fixtures and are waiting for the third round to be played in December.

Burkina Faso are the defending champions.