MARONDERA- A former Marondera-based football player, Morgan Tandi, who
played alongside some of the big-name players who ended up playing for the senior
men national soccer team, has challenged interim Warriors coach Baltemar Brito to
cast his net wider when selecting Warriors players.

Brito who is also the coach of Bulawayo giants Highlanders is a Portugeese national
who was once an assistant to Italian Serie giants AS Roma manager Jose Mourinho
and was appointed by the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) Normalisation
Committee in September alongside his assistant at Bosso, Antonio Jao Martins Leao
Torres and Simba Bhora goalkeepers’ coach Zivanai Kawadza.

He said there are many football players plying their trade in the country’s lower
division leagues, who can be roped in the national team, rather than pinning hopes
only on those who are foreign-based or playing in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer
League.

Only recently, the Warriors were outclassed, exposed and beaten 3-1 by a ZIFA
Northern Region Division 1 select team.

“We all want our national team to win matches, be they friendly or competitive
matches so that they can uplift the morale of their supporters in our soccer-crazy
nation. After that embarrassing defeat at the hands of Northern Region select team, I
think it is high time the Warriors coach, Brito, cast his net wider and tap the talent
that is there in the lower leagues.

“There are four Division 1 leagues in the country – that is the Eastern, Western,
Southern and the Northen which embarrassed the Warriors – that compete for
promotion into the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League every year.

“This means there are many talented players throuoght and my point, as I said
earlier on, is that the Warriors coach and his technical team should just go to the
grassroots, identify and rope in the talented players who have the potential to do well
for the Warriors,” Tandi said.

He added that a panel mandated to scout for players in the lower local leagues and
schools should be set up.

Eastern Region Soccer League side Mutare City Rovers striker Dominic Mukandi
who played for Dynamos FC, CAPS United, Ngezi Platinum and Njube Sundowns
was of the same opinion that players capable of making the grade into the national
soccer team can be plucked from the lower league.

“Gone are the days when competitive football was played only in the Premier Soccer
League. Nowadays, there is a lot of competition in the Division 1 leagues throughout
the country and there are many players out there who can make the grade to play for
our beloved Warriors. It is my hope that the Warriors coach, Britto, will scout for

players in those leagues and include them in the national team set-up,” Mukandi
said.

Tandi played for CSC (pronounced as COSCO by football fans in Marondera) in the
80s and as a junior player, he rubbed shoulders with the likes of Kaitano Tembo,
More Moyo, Robson Chisango, Benjani Mwaruwari and the late Stephen Ndalama,
among others.

These players with whom Tandi rubbed shoulders made names for themselves in
their soccer careers. They went on to play for local Premier Soccer League sides as
well as in foreign lands.

In his heydays Kaitano ‘Ngwenya’ Tembo played for Dynamos and helped the team
reach the finals of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) African Champions
League in 1998 only to dubiously lose to Asec Mimosa of Ivory Coast.

Benjani Mwaruwari, at the peak of his footballing powers, played for Air Zimbabwe
Jets before trekking to South Africa where he joined Jomo Cosmos where he was
snapped up by FC Grasshoppers of Switzerland. The Undertaker’s footballing
journey would later take him to AJ Auxerre in France and later Portsmouth and
Manchester City in the Barclays English Premier League.

He also captained the Warriors and participated at a couple of Africa Cup of Nations
finals.

The other players whom Tandi played with at the junior level, Moyo and Ndalama
also went on to play and make names for themselves in the local league.

His experience means that Tandi has seen it all and was also idolised by locals
when he was a CSC player hence his voice or observations on football matters have
traction.

He said: “I played for CSC from the juniors’ level between 1980-1988 and then at the
team’s senior level in Division 2. In 1990, we were promoted to Division 1 and I
rubbed shoulders with the likes of Kaitano Tembo before he went to Kadoma United,
More Moyo CSC before he joined Buymore and Robson Chisango who later joined
army side Black Rhinos.

“Back then, we competed against players like former Warriors captain Benjani
Mwaruwaru. There is also the late former CAPS United goal minder Stephen
Ndalama who showed that he was a capable player when he was still paying in the
lower leagues.”