Zimbabwe set to name Valinhos as new coach

Zimbabwe set to name Valinhos as new coach

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By Nkanyiso Moyo

THE Zimbabwe FA (ZIFA) was on Tuesday night preparing to name Jose Valinhos as the new national soccer team coach, New Zimbabwe.com sources said.

The unfamiliar name of the new coach, who returns no results on a Google search, will be received by success-starved Zimbabwean soccer fans as an anti-climax.

Expectations had been whipped up by rumours that ZIFA were lining up either Rene Weber or Nelson Rodriguez, both successful former Brazil Under 20 coaches.

ZIFA called a press conference for Wednesday afternoon, at which the new coach is set to be introduced.

Valinhos arrived in Zimbabwe Tuesday on a lunch-time flight from South Africa and immediately went into meetings with football bosses.

The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), a quasi-government agency in charge of attracting tourists, is picking up the new coach's salary to be paid in United States dollars.

Perennial underachievers Zimbabwe are chasing qualification for their maiden appearance at the Fifa World Cup finals and a third appearance at the African Nations Cup.

The Warriors have not had a substantive coach following the dismissal of Charles Mhlauri after the team bombed out of the forthcoming continental showpiece in Ghana.

They are pooled in Group 2 of the 2010 qualifiers together with Guinea, Namibia and Kenya.
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