Whither sport: Football fires blanks

Last week, the Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Tumiso Rakgare reiterated the country’s intentions to bid for the 2027 AFCON. It is now nine years since that AFCON appearance in 2012 in Gabon, which was the Zebras' first and only. This is only a highlight of how sorry the national team’s performance is. The Zebras have failed to qualify for any continental competition since their first dance in 2012. Only recently the team was battered 5-0 by reigning African champions, Algeria in an AFCON qualifier.

The group also had neighbours, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The team also failed to jump over the first hurdle in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers as it was eliminated by Malawi in the preliminary round. Africa’s second tier tournament, CHAN has also eluded the Zebras. The team has never gone past the second round of the qualifiers. Two appearances in the COSAFA Cup finals should not be a reason to celebrate, bearing in mind that most teams use second stream teams for the regional tournament.