ZIFA say they will have to move with speed and appoint the substantive Warriors coach following the change of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations dates, leading to a busy schedule which is now going to start in March.
CAF announced this week that next year's
The switch has been necessitated by the rainy weather conditions predicated at that time of the year in the host nation, forcing CAF to abandon the June-July calendar which they adopted for the first time during last year's Nations Cup finals in
That change has forced CAF and
Now, the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers that were expected to resume from
The dates were originally set aside for the resumption of the
The new arrangement will mean that the eagerly-anticipated back-to-back clashes between
The World Cup qualifiers, whose draw will be held next week, will only start after the
With the
ZIFA technical director Wilson Mutekede yesterday said bringing forward the Nations Cup qualifiers six months earlier could be a blessing in disguise for
The Warriors are currently second on the table with four points in their group, having managed a win against
"The bringing forward of qualifiers is a favourable development for our team given the momentum that the team has at the moment.
"This is, however, a call for urgent conclusion of the coach selection process which is already in motion and will be concluded shortly.
"The new technical team will have to hit the ground running," said Mutekede.
The former Twalumba coach said concluding the
"Cohesion of the team is enhanced although recovery and regeneration of the squad has to be given special attention," he said.
However, Mutekede noted that the shift of the dates may affect some associations who take pride in planning in advance. Many teams conduct training camps when they play friendly games in preparation for the tournament.
"Altering plans is the main inconvenience since most associations might have put in place long-term plans in line with the previously set dates," he said.
For ZIFA, this development also means that the technical and development committee headed by Bryton Malandule, which convenes this weekend to go through the applications and curriculum vitaes submitted by the candidates, have to come up with a strong shortlist and probably come up with a substantive coach for the Warriors.
The technical committee will also have to note that due to a congested programme, they will have to come up with a full-time coach who will be tied to a minimum two-year contract at least until after the World Cup qualifiers in
ZIFA can no longer afford the luxury they enjoyed in the past whereby
The new Warriors coach will have to hit the ground running starting with the back-to-back Nations Cup qualifiers against African champions
Zimbabwe
23- 31 March --
1- 9 June --
31 August-
World Cup Qualifiers
5-13 October -- Match 1;
9-17 November -- Match 2;
22-30 March -- (2021) Match 3 and 4;
30 August-7 September, (2021) -- Match 5;
4-12 October (2021) -- Match 6;
8- 16 November (2021) -- Knockout matches
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