Zimbabwe/Ghana: Letter From Accra

by: Augustine Hwata

FIFA instructor Ben Kouffie believes Zimbabwe is blessed with rich football talent, but administrative shortcomings – which date back to the time when he was the Warriors coach – have hampered the senior national team’s transformation into a powerhouse on the continent.

The Ghanaian coach was in charge of the Warriors’ failed campaign for a place at the 1990 World Cup finals and the 1992 Nations Cup finals where, a classic blunder by the late goalkeeper John Sibanda, sealed their fate in a drawn game against Congo at the National Sports Stadium.

Eighteen years might have passed since Kouffie’s romantic flirtation with the Warriors came to an end — forever symbolised by his decision to field the late Sibanda, ahead of Peter Fanwell, and the fatal blunders that the goalkeeper committed on that fateful afternoon.

But Koufie’s emotional attachment with Zimbabwean football lives on and this week he was back in the country as part of a three-man Fifa team on a mission to help Zifa improve their management of the domestic game.

The Ghanaian, now a 77-year-old grandfather of African football with a well of wisdom that Fifa is tapping into to help football on the continent, has been travelling extensively throughout Africa in his role as an instructor.

He retains a link with Zimbabwean football and revealed to The Herald that he has been following the recent success of local teams, in the Champions League, with a lot of pride.

Dynamos reached the semi-finals of the Champions League last season before falling at the hands of Cotonsport of Garoua while Monomotapa — in their maiden campaign on the continent — have reached the group phase of the tournament.

But while Zimbabwean clubs have done reasonably well on the continent, the national team continues to struggle badly and were knocked out of the 2010 World Cup/Nations Cup qualifiers after a poor campaign.

Kouffie — who had two spells as national director of football in this country in the ’80s and immediately fell in love with Zimbabwe — said the success of the clubs was not something surprising while the failure of the Warriors was a result of administrative flaws.

"In my travels around the world, I have met many people who cannot believe that your teams are doing do well in the Champions League here in Africa considering all the challenges they face," said Kouffie.

"The profile of Zimbabwean football out there is not good right now because, given the way the national team has been performing, the impression among many people is that your game is weak.

"Because of that, these people can’t understand how a country — whose game is so weak — can produce teams that can do so well in such competitions like the Champions League.

"But I have been telling them that the raw football talent in this country is unbelievable and that is the reason why your teams are a success story.

"Zimbabwe has rich football talent, something that keeps impressing me wherever I go, and the young players here can do wonders with the ball.

"The clubs here have found a way to assemble that talent, which I have always believed in, and they have come up with teams that have beaten the best sides in Africa."

Kouffie, however, believes a problem arises when it comes to the national team.

"When it comes to the national team, you need to have a national football organisation that is working smoothly and supporting that team," said Kouffie.

"You need to invest a lot into the grassroots and you need to monitor that young talent, as it comes through, and support it.

"Once everything is in order, you can then have a flow of some good players into the national team and then that side will be very strong and can do very well in the big competitions.

"The administrative side of the game here in Zimbabwe has been one area that has been a big let-down and that has had a big effect on how the national team has performed.

"Once you have problems in administration, at a national level, even those players who would be so good at their clubs will tend to struggle when they play for that national team.

"These administrative problems have been there for a long time now and it’s something that we are working hard to ensure that everything starts flowing smoothly and the great raw talent that you have here can translate into a very good national team."

Kouffie said he found it disappointing that the same administrative challenges, which hampered the Warriors’ progress during his time as coach at the end of the ’80s and at the turn of the ’90s, were still affecting Zimbabwean football.

The Ghanaian was here for three months, towards the end of 2007, and went on a cross-country tour, gathering views from coaches and administrators and making recommendations.

His main thrust was on football development from grassroots to create a pipeline that would feed the Premier League clubs and the senior national team.

Among his recommendations then was the appointment of a technical director and he recommended Fifa and Caf instructor Nelson Matongorere, who is one of the most highly qualified local coaches.

It took more than a year for Matongorere to be appointed to that post.

Koufie said he had realised that the Zifa leadership only tended to act, when they are being monitored and the Caf and Fifa delegates are here, only to abandon those projects once the visitors leave.

"The problem with Zimbabwean football is continuity. There is no continuity here. Your country is rich in talent," said Kouffie.

"When I mean rich, I mean very rich in good players but their preparations for the national teams are not okay," Koufie.

Kouffie hailed the appointment of Matongorere and is hopeful that the bulky coach will be given support to implement the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee-supported plan of 2007.

"I think Zimbabwe will be able to roll out better results now if he is given all the support," he said.

Zifa president Wellington Nyatanga defended his association’s failure to put the plan into motion, saying this was because of the economic challenges facing the country then.

"We faced challenges because of the economic meltdown that was happening.

"Yes, by the time Kouffie left we had no technical director, but now he is there and we are trying to move on," said Nyatanga.

As happens whenever Kouffie visits Zimbabwe, the issue of his alleged curse on the national team — in which he was said to have stated that the Warriors would not qualify for any big tournament even if they hired a coach from the moon — resurfaces.

The Ghanaian was the head of the technical staff of the Class of the Warriors that blew a golden chance to qualify for their maiden Nations Cup finals when they were held 2-2 by Congo at the National Sports Stadium in 1991.

Kouffie was subsequently fired in the painful post-mortem that followed that draw, remembered largely for goalkeeper Sibanda’s nervy show between the posts that gifted the Congolese the precious point.

Images of Moses Chunga and Peter Ndlovu virtually crying in the dressing rooms after their brilliant performance had come to nothing, were soon splashed in the mainstream newspapers and helped turn the heat on Kouffie.

The Ghanaian has since worked his way back to the top, becoming the chairman of his country’s football federation and spreading the football gospel across the continent — including Zimbabwe — under various Fifa initiatives.

But he remembers that alleged curse that was broken when the Warriors finally qualified for the Nations Cup finals in 2003.

"I never said Zimbabwe would never qualify because I knew that this country had great football talent and it was only a matter of time.

"My statement was taken out of context because I said you would not qualify, even if you hired a coach from the moon, unless you put certain structures in place and got some key things right.

"But key parts of that statement were removed and the journalists only left the controversial part and it became something like a curse."

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Published by the government of Zimbabwe