EDDIE NYATANGA - the Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters Association
boss - believes the Warriors should forget about the 2008 Nations Cup
finals in Ghana and instead focus on the 2010 World Cup showcase in South
Africa.
Speaking on the eve of the Warriors' departure for their make-or-break
qualifier against Morocco in Casablanca on Saturday, Nyatanga said the
2008 Nations Cup campaign was a mountain too high for Charles Mhlauri's
men to climb.
Nyatanga said the Warriors forgot the basics of winning a ticket to the
Nations Cup finals - collecting maximum points at home and, at least,
a point away from home - and were about to pay the price.
"I believe that we blew our chances when we failed to come out with
at least a draw from Malawi and then dropped those two points at home
against Morocco.
"It's all good to be patriotic and to dream about winning in Morocco
but the truth, which hurts all of us, is that our chances of pulling off
a miracle are almost zero.
"If we are not good enough to win in Malawi then we should simply
not fool ourselves to say that we will be good enough to win in Morocco.
"We have not done well away from home recently and that should give
us an indication of the tough battle that we face when we arrive in Morocco."
Nyatanga said he believes the nation should instead focus on the 2010
World Cup finals.
"I believe this is the right time for us to start looking at the
2010 World Cup finals and prepare the boys that we believe could help
us qualify for the tournament in South Africa.
"We have lost a lot of time concentrating on an African Cup of Nations
tournament whose qualification battle was lost when we crashed to that
shock defeat in Malawi.
"Instead of sitting down as a nation to start preparing for the future
- which to me is the 2010 World Cup finals - we lose precious time in
dreamland talking about winning in Morocco.
"Of course, the game of football is unpredictable and anything can
happen on any given day.
"But we know the weaknesses of our team and we need to be realistic
rather than lie to ourselves that we have a very good chance of beating
the Atlas Lions on their own soil.
"I have been in this game for too long to know that some things just
won't happen and I have this feeling that our search for a victory in
Morocco is one of those things."
Nyatanga said Zimbabwe also needed to recruit a veteran foreign coach
- to work with a group of local coaches - for the 2010 World Cup campaign.
"Everyone around us now appears to have a foreign coach and they
all just can't be wrong and probably it's one area that we have to look
into before we start the 2010 World Cup campaign.
"I would be more comfortable with a foreign coach who knows the kind
of players that we have and that is why I have always wanted Reinhard
Fabisch to come back.
"I disagree with those who say that our players have lost their touch
all of a sudden and I believe there are some small things that we have
not been getting right that have resulted in us falling down the rankings.
"We have to re-organise our Warriors because I sincerely believe
that we can make it to the 2010 World Cup finals."
