Warriors interim coach, Norman Mapeza, has said that he is driven by patriotic, national goals and is not mad at the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) despite falling out with the national football governing body back in 2011.
Mapeza had clashes with the Cuthbert Dube administration and left the post after a coaching feud with ZIFA involving Madinda Ndlovu led to a draw against Cape Verde in 2011 and failed the Warriors’ qualification to the AFCON 2012 finals.
ZIFA still owes Mapeza over USD$100 000 in unpaid wages but the FC Platinum gaffer says everyone makes mistakes and has moved on with his life.
“It’s for the country, it’s for the country. For me to be here today it’s because of these people, that’s why I’m here. If I was someone who was mad at ZIFA I would have gone there and took everything at ZIFA village but I knew one day I would come back and sit on that chair. That’s why I’m here, I’m a Zimbabwean. Everybody does mistakes, but we need to move on in life, I have moved on with my life.
“Now I am back here again, maybe tomorrow I’ll be back to my club and there’ll be another coach and I don’t have any hard feelings,” he told journalists.
Asked whether he intended to be a full time Warriors coach, Mapeza said:
“For now I cannot make a decision. I am employed by FC Platinum; they also have to make a decision, I cannot make a decision. I’ve got a job [for] which I’m there [FC Platinum] everyday. This [Warriors] is not a job for everyday life.
“I’ll be here maybe once in six months [and] I have got a job there [FC Platinum], so it’s not about my decision only. The club also has to make a decision.
“You know it’s difficult for me to talk about tomorrow because I don’t know what’s going to happen today,” he said.
Mapeza said it was too early to come up with a team which can battle in the CHAN qualifiers. The Warriors gaffer had to work on a short notice and the season has yet to begin in order to assess different players.
“It’s difficult because the season hasn’t started yet. It was difficult, that’s why you saw that the majority of the players came from Ngezi [Platinum Stars] and some came from CAPS United. If the season had started I would have said look I have got a squad now which I think can compete in the CHAN tournament. Bu for now, I’ve just had a squad to play against Zambia.