The Warriors top hierarchy insists they have not been treated fairly by their opponents ahead of the first leg of the World Cup qualifiers
Zimbabwe team manager Wellington Mpandare has alleged that Ghana Football Association has tried several diabolic tactics to frustrate them ahead of the 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifier to be played at the Cape Coast Sports Stadium on Saturday.
According to Mpandare, since Zimbabwe arrived in Ghana, they have been unfairly treated. He alleged that they were given a terrible training ground with poor pitch to train on.
He believes these kind of outmoded tactics should not be entertained in order to improve the game.
Zimbabwe rejected the Nduom Sports Stadium in Elmina because they believe the pitch was very terrible and would lead to injuries to their players.
“It’s so sad that we still have such things happening in our football,” Mpandare told Newsday.
“The team has lost quite a lot in terms of preparation time because we could not train this morning as we had planned since the pitch we got was very bad.
“It was uneven and very hard so we couldn’t risk the players getting injuries. It was unsuitable for use by professional footballers.”
“We asked for another facility but we got something almost the same. The grass on the pitch was at knee level. They promised to trim the grass but we doubt they will do that, so we are already looking for an alternative venue. Imagine Ghana going through such ordeals in another country, obviously they won’t be happy,” he added.
Zimbabwe are looking for their first victory in the qualifiers after sharing the spoils goalless with South Africa on opening day and losing 1-0 to Ethiopia last month which eventually led to the sacking of their coach Zdravko Lugarosic.
Ghana, on the other hand, sit second with three points, one point behind South Africa after defeating Ethiopia and losing to Bafana Bafana in Johannesburg last month.