The Will of the Warriors: Zimbabwe's Quest for the World Cup

This piece was originally posted on July 14, 2008 at www.pickinsplinters.com. The Zimbabwe national team has since been eliminated from 2010 World Cup qualifying finishing third in their respective group. Amid claims of an attempted assassination and the death of Zimbabwe's Prime Minister's wife, I wanted to re-post this article at Bleacher Report.

South Africa will host the 2010 World Cup. Nine cities—including Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Durban—will be the center of the world between June 11 and July 11.

FIFA’s decision to hold the world’s biggest tournament on the oft war ridden continent is not sitting well with the rest of the world.

If you haven’t followed the world news at all, Zimbabwe is muddled with violence and alleged political corruption.

Now I can’t give you the details of who is who or the acronyms of any political factions; all I know is that the situation has affected South Africa.

Leading up to a recent election and its conclusion, which was delayed many times, Zimbabweans sensing political strife and out lash from a suspicious delay fled to their more economically stable neighbor, South Africa. Those who fled early were lucky: they have escaped the daily violence that ensued.

This past week, FIFA has finally admitted that they are concerned with the situation in Zimbabwe and how it may affect the safety of the players and hundreds of thousands of fans that will descend upon South Africa in 2010. They have revealed that there is a backup plan in place, but refuse to disclose any details including the possible country.

Rumors have also been swirling that FIFA is considering the suspension of the Zimbabwe National team, who is still in place to advance to the next stage of qualifying.

Lost in all of this is Zimbabwe’s plight to use soccer as a tool for peace.

Zimbabwe originally had high hopes of hosting some of the World Cup fixtures in Harare, but ultimately lost that chance due to the inadequacies of its stadiums. They thought hosting some games would promote national pride.

One stadium in particular, Rufaro Stadium in Harare, began renovations in hopes of hosting. However, problems with the drainage and turf put the stadium’s progress eight months behind schedule.

In fact, up until recently, FIFA was not even going to sanction the use of Rufaro for qualifying matches, which would force the Zimbabwe team to play qualifying matches elsewhere.

FIFA eventually approved Rufaro and the dilapidated stadium hosted a couple of qualifying matches. Zimbabwe performed valiantly well, most recently drawing against Kenya and defeating Namibia. There will be at least one more qualifying match played in Harare’s Rufaro Stadium on September 7 against Guinea.

Zimbabwe remains in third place in Group Two, two points behind Kenya; they have two more matches to finish in the top two spots in order to advance.

My guess is that FIFA is in fact considering disbanding the Zimbabwe National team, but has chosen to wait out the qualifying round to see if Zimbabwe can just eliminate itself. On one hand, it’s hard to argue with one point of view FIFA could make—they may be protecting them from violence. But on the other hand they may actually prolong it.

A few years ago the Iraqi National team experienced success beyond expectations despite a war in their country. They practiced and played all “home games” in Dubai. Many of them were witnesses to unspeakable horrors experienced by many athletes during Hussein’s reign in Iraq. Yet, they continued to compete.

They finished fourth in the 2004 Olympics, and in 2006 and 2007 won gold and silver medals in two different Asian tournaments. These Asian tournaments exposed nationalism in Iraq.

During their participation and success in these tournaments, it was widely reported on American news channels that violence was down in Iraq. I can recall CNN running a video of Iraqi celebrations after a big victory and was enthralled at the power of soccer.

(It is unfortunate to reflect back on this now. Iraq was recently eliminated from World Cup qualifying after losing to Qatar. The government decided to dismiss the manager and disband the team until a later time. Victory begets pride, defeat begets shame.)

FIFA understandably refused to allow Zimbabwe to host any World Cup games, but why suspend the team if they continue to be successful?

All it needs to do is look at what the Iraqi team did for its country. Soccer can be a powerful force when allowed to run its course.

Maybe “The Warriors,” as the Zimbabwe team is so affectionately called, are destined for something bigger. Normally perennial underachievers in Africa, they have shown signs of an undeniable will during qualifying.

Why interrupt that?

Just look at the games played at Rufaro thus far. There has been no violence whatsoever and national pride has been palpable.

Rufaro has a capacity of 35,000. The attendance at Rufaro for both qualifying games?

35,000 proud Zimbabweans.

2008 Zimbabwe presidential election
FIFA has no plans to suspend Zimbabwe
Details on Rufaro Stadium
2010 FIFA World Cup