Just like that?
Published On January 21, 2016 » 2459 Views» By Administrator Times » Columns, Sports
 0 stars
Register to vote!

Sport On - Chipepo newSO, my British coach Irfan Kawri is not in Rwanda.
Pardon me; what was he engaged for again?
Seems my memory is failing me but if at all it serves me right, the man whose curriculum vitae (CV) looks quite attractive on paper was hired to ensure the Chipolopolo have a fruitful outing at the African Nations Championship (CHAN) finals in Rwanda.
But with the turn of events, it seems the man only came to play a cameo role.
Kawri’s sudden decision to go back to England leaves a lot of questions unanswered.
According to the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ), Kawri had emergency personal issues to attend to in his country. By the way, Kawri is a British citizen born from a Zambian mother and an Indian father, just in-case some of you are wondering his nationality going by the way he looks.
He is based in Bolton, a few miles away from the Great Manchester City.
I take it that the personal issues Kawri rushed to attend to were extremely important and so urgent that they couldn’t wait for three more weeks, especially that he had been brought for an assignment – CHAN – with possibilities of re-evaluating his role to include the Africa Cup and World Cup qualifiers. But we all have emergencies any way.
But could it be a case of an actor failing to fulfill his role or he landed a multi-million dollar deal that was worth sacrificing his current role? Well, that’s another million-dollar question left hanging.
We don’t know what really rushed our Kawri back to England and if anyone knows, please let me know…because I am equally looking for answers.
Suffice to say that the man tried to fit into the Chipolopolo system and we are told he brought some unique touch which, to me, could have counted if he stayed over to participate in the actual competition.
What I would really want to know are the terms FAZ set when engaging Kawri.
Were the terms open enough that they allowed the trainer to set his conditions?
So, suppose he had an emergency 48 hours upon joining the team…Was he also going to be allowed to leave?
What really was the motive behind his engagement? If really it was for CHAN as we were told, at what point was his role scheduled to expire?
Was it just to beef up the technical bench in preparation for the tournament?
I guess only FAZ can answer these questions or indeed Kawri himself.
I am still left to wonder whether Kawri’s three-week stint with our beloved assemblage of local players really made any difference.
But for now, let us all shift our energies to Rubavu and later Kigali to give our Chipolopolo the support they need to forge ahead in the tournament.
A victory against Zimbabwe wasn’t easy but worth setting a positive tone, thanks to veteran midfielder Isaac Chansa.
Congratulations George ‘Chicken’ Lwandamina and crew, job well-done!!!
All the best in tomorrow’s game against Uganda. We may have an upper hand against the Cranes but they are not easy opponents.
I trust Lwandamina has done his homework.
Till then, let’s continue interacting on twitter @eliaschipepo or indeed continue e-mailing those thoughts to eliaschipepo@gmail.com or elias.chipepo@times.co.zm

Share this post
Tags

About The Author