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Warriors striker over pay in Nigeria
By
Michael Kariati
ZIMBABWE'S national
football team on Thursday boycotted training in Abuja, Nigeria, over
unpaid appearance fees, The Daily Mirror newspaper reported Saturday.
The Warriors are in Nigeria for a Group Four clash today (Saturday) that will decide whether the Nigerians proceed to the World Cup finals in Germany. Zimbabwe have already secured an Africa Nations Cup final berth but are out of contention for a World Cup place.
The Warriors had been promised $250 million in total as the group’s appearance fees but the money was not available upon arrival in Lagos.
The players then went on strike on Thursday and only returned to training Friday after Peter Ndlovu’s manager, Winstone Makamure, bailed out the team.
Makamure however, paid the team’s appearance fees on condition that Zifa would reimburse the money.
Zifa chairman Rafik Khan confirmed there was a problem with appearance fees but said the issue has since been resolved and the players trained on Friday.
“There was a small problem with regards to appearance fees but that has since been resolved,” said Khan.
Khan however only confirmed they had borrowed the money to pay the players without revealing who had come to their rescue. This paper, however, has it on good authority that it is in fact Makamure who came up with the money.
Efforts to get a clearer picture from Makamure were unsuccessful as he was not reachable each time this paper sought his comment.
That they only trained in Abuja yesterday means the Warriors only had two days of training, Tuesday evening in Harare, and yesterday in Abuja ahead of the match that will decide whom between Nigeria and Angola will represent Africa at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
The SRC bought the players’ air tickets and provided daily allowances but surprisingly could not pay for the most important part of the Nigerian trip – the players’ appearance fees. The cash-strapped Zimbabwe Football Association could not guarantee the money as they are broke while Zifa’s efforts to get assistance from the Sport and Recreation Commission (SRC) yielded nothing.
SRC chairman, Brigadier General Gibson Mashingaidze could not be reached to shed light on the Warriors but a source in Abuja told this paper that the players at one time nearly thought of boycotting the match altogether.
The SRC took from Zifa about $1,4 billion from the Warriors matches against Gabon and Rwanda and also get a share from all the Premier Soccer League matches played.
However, despite football being their biggest income base, the SRC, has not ploughed anything back into soccer.
Although the Warriors are out of the running for a place at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, today’s match is one of the most crucial in their lives for a win would reverberate across all the four corners of the world.
The Super Eagles on their part have called their best team available and captain Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha is in Abuja to give support to his teammates as he is not playing after aggravating an injury while turning out for his English Premiership club Bolton Wanderers.
LATEST LOG
GROUP FOUR
[The
draw also acts as qualifying for the 2006 African Nations Cup. The winner
of each group will compete in the 2006 World Cup, while the top three
in each group qualify for the 2006 Nations Cup]
| TEAM | P |
W |
D |
L |
GF |
GA |
PTS |
|
| 1 | Angola | 9 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
11 |
6 |
18 |
| 2 | Nigeria | 9 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
16 |
6 |
18 |
| 3 | Zimbabwe | 9 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
12 |
9 |
15 |
| 4 | Gabon | 9 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
11 |
13 |
9 |
| 5 | Algeria | 9 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
8 |
15 |
7 |
| 6 | Rwanda | 9 |
1 |
2 |
6 |
6 |
15 |
5 |
Fixtures: 2004
June 5: Nigeria 2-0 Rwanda; Gabon 1-1 Zimbabwe; Algeria 0-0 Angola
June 19: Rwanda
3-1 Gabon
June 20: Zimbabwe 1-1 Algeria; Angola 1-0 Nigeria
July 3: Nigeria 1-0 Algeria; Gabon 2-2 Angola; Rwanda 0-2 Zimbabwe
September 5: Algeria 0-3 Gabon; Zimbabwe 0-3 Nigeria; Angola 1-0 Rwanda
October 9: Gabon
1-1 Nigeria; Rwanda 1-1 Algeria
October 10:Angola 1-0 Zimbabwe
2005
March 26: Nigeria
2-0 Gabon
March 27: Zimbabwe 2-0 Angola; Algeria 1-0 Rwanda
June 5: Zimbabwe 1-0 Gabon; Angola 2-1 Algeria; Rwanda 1-1 Nigeria
June 18: Nigeria
1-1 Angola; Gabon 3-0 Rwanda
June 19: Algeria 2-2 Zimbabwe
September 4: Algeria
2-5 Nigeria
September 4: Zimbabwe 3-1 Rwanda; Angola 3-0 Gabon
October 8: Nigeria
v Zimbabwe; Gabon v Algeria
October 9: Rwanda v Angola
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