ZIFA In Quandary Over Logarusic
10 September 2021
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By A Correspondent- The Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) is in a difficult situation in coming up with a replacement for Warriors coach Zdravko Logarušic in the event they decide to fire him as is expected.

Reports suggest that the Croat is set to be sacked when the ZIFA board meets on Saturday to review the Warriors’ performance against South Africa (nil-all draw) and Ethiopia (0-1 defeat), respectively.

Logarusic won a single match in his 14 games at the helm of the senior men’s team and fans are baying for his blood.

There have been suggestions that ZIFA will get rid of Logarušic and replace him with a local coach, but the pool to choose from is quite limited

FC Platinum coach Norman Mapeza would have been a natural replacement for Logarušic, but his club, which is participating in the CAF Champions League, is likely to block the move.

Hiring Mapeza is also complicated by the fact that ZIFA owes him money from previous stints as national team coach and he would likely demand his dues first before committing to a new arrangement.

ZIFA are currently broke after they squandered all the money received from FIFA and CAF over the course of the year.

Former Warriors interim coach Joey Antipas, who presided over the Warriors’ first two matches in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and picked four points, does not hold the required qualifications.

A short term solution would be the appointment of either Tonderai Ndiraya or Lloyd Chitembwe who are both assistants to Logarušic.

There are some board members though who are defending Logarusic arguing that it would be hard to replace him.

They also contend that Logarušic has been unlucky in the campaign, especially with the blocking of United Kingdom-based players from travelling to Zimbabwe for the matches due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.