20100926
africanews

Namibia coach Tom Saintfiet has finally been confirmed as the substantive Warriors coach after a Zimbabwe Football Association, ZIFA, board meeting held in Harare over the weekend. The Belgian's appointment ends a week long stand-off between FA officials over a national and an outsider.

The two parties struck a compromise deal in which local coach Norman Mapeza comes in as Saintfiet’s assistant along with Black Mambas technical director Madinda Ndlovu. Friday Phiri, who is the technical director at a local club, Eagles and had been appointed one of Saintfeit’s assistants last week, would now head the Zimbabwean Under-23 team.

Monomotapa coach Taurai Mangwiro takes charge of the Under-20s while Dynamos’ Elvis Chiweshe has been assigned to the Under-17s.

ZIFA Chief Executive, Jonathan Mashingaidze told journalists in Harare that the new Warriors technical team would start work immediately in preparation for Zimbabwe’s 2012 AFCON Group A qualifier against Cape Verde in Harare on Sunday, October 10.

“Now that the line-up of the coaches has been pronounced they are expected to start working on the issues of the team’s call-up so that we as a secretariat we can also send the invitations for the players to the respective clubs,” Mashingaidze said.

The confirmation of the 37-year-old Saintfiet as the new Warriors coach means he promptly vacates his post as the Namibian head coach.

Mashingaidze noted that Saintfiet was unlikely to go back to Namibia before the Cape Verde encounter.

SuperSport.com writes that Saintfiet’s appointment is however unlikely to go down well with the majority of local soccer fans, many of whom feel the country has hardly benefited from the many foreign coaches who have been with the Warriors down the years.

The two coaches ever to take Zimbabwe to the Africa Cup of Nations finals are locals – Sunday Chidzambwa in 2004 and Charles Mhlauri in 2006.

Apart from Namibia, Saintfiet has coached in The Faroe Islands, Ivory Coast, Qatar, and in the lower divisions in Germany, Netherlands, and Belgium.

He started his coaching career at the age of 24 and boasts a booklet of qualification in coaching, sports medicine and even psychology.