Mwaruwari warns against scapegoating Valinhos

Mwaruwari warns against scapegoating Valinhos

REFLECTIONS: Mwaruwari (right)

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By Mduduzi Mathuthu
Posted to the web: 15/10/2008 11:49:31
BENJANI Mwaruwari has warned the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) against making Jose Valinhos the single scapegoat for the country’s failure to qualify for the 2010 Africa Cup and World Cup finals.

In his first interview since Zimbabwe crashed out with a disappointing 4-2 away defeat to Namibia last Saturday, the Warriors captain said EVERYONE involved with football must look at themselves.

“We have to look at the players, are they good enough? We should look at ZIFA itself; did they do their job properly by helping players and the coach to focus on football matters only? And of course, we should look at the coach; could he have done any better with the resources available to him? That is how we should approach the problem, not heap all the blame on one man,” the injured Manchester City striker told New Zimbabwe.com.

Valinhos’ future has been called into doubt after a disastrous campaign, but the national mood is for a clean sweep of the national game.

Past and present football administrators have said ZIFA were also culpable for the disaster – not only for appointing a relatively unknown Brazilian coach but failing to pay his salary on time since June.

Mwaruwari said he had a “good relationship” with Valinhos, whom he considered competent.

But he added: “The coach needs to be happy, and that means getting his salary on time as well. Without that, we forfeit our right to criticise him and set him targets because we have not given him all that he asked for.

“We now have three years to start again because we are not playing in the Africa Cup or World Cup qualifiers until 2011. Everyone needs to look at their contribution to the national game, it should be an open debate.

“We should look at the resources we have, and then collectively set ourselves targets based on the best management of those resources.

“If you look at the English Premier League, there are some teams whose only target is to survive relegation every season. You can’t blame them because they have evaluated their resources and determined what’s achievable and what’s not.

“I still believe qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations must have been a minimum, and that suggests we have not done as well as we could. Clearly, there are serious problems somewhere and we need to iron them out in the next three years.”

Mwaruwari said he would delay a decision on his international future, but doubted whether he would be still needed in three years.

“I understand that I cannot play forever, I will have to exit the stage for new blood. I would be 33 in 2011, and whether I continue playing for the national team will depend on how well I am playing.

“If I am still playing at the top level, then we can talk about me staying. But If I have left the premiership for some lower league somewhere, then retirement would be the only choice.”

Zimbabwe’s Group 12 Results:

01/06/08 17:00 Guinea 0:0 Zimbabwe
08/06/08 15:00 Zimbabwe 2:0 Namibia
14/06/08 16:00 Kenya 2:0 Zimbabwe
22/06/08 15:00 Zimbabwe 0:0 Kenya
07/09/08 15:00 Zimbabwe 0:0 Guinea
11/10/08 16:00 Namibia 4:2 Zimbabwe

Group 2 Log (11/10/2008)

	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
1	Guinea	6	3	2	1	9	5	11
2	Kenya	6	3	1	2	8	5	10
3	Zimbabwe	6	1	3	2	4	6	6
4	Namibia	6	2	0	4	7	12	6

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