‘We want to be a difficult team to play against’: Warriors’ new coaching philosophy revealed

By SportsCast Writer

HARARE – Zimbabwe on Thursday unveiled Spain’s Roman Català as the new men’s senior national team football coach, deputised by his two fellow countrymen Marc Sanchez and Vicente Girona Izquierdo alongside Zimbabwean Takesure Chiragwi.

Head coach Català, holder of a UEFA Pro Licence coaching certificate, had spells at CE Sabadell, CF Damm, Villareal CF and RCD Mallorca.

His youthful first assistant coach, Sanchez, drew applauses from the audience at a Harare hotel on Thursday morning when he declared how the new set-up will drive the Warriors forward with a brand of attractive and attacking football.

The new men in charge want to see a confident and technically skilled team, with dynamism and flair becoming an identify of the Warriors.

“We are from Barcelona, we are from Catalonia, so our philosophy is from there,” Sanchez told the turnout.  

“Our team will be a very offensive team, very aggressive team. So, we’ll try to have the ball in the opponent’s field. We will try to be aggressive when we lose the ball. We will try to dominate with the ball because it’s our philosophy. We want to be a very difficult team to play against.”

The appointment of Català and his backroom staff is part of a raft of changes across all levels of the structures of Zimbabwean football.

Stella Gotal, from Croatia, becomes the new Zimbabwe senior women’s team coach. She becomes the first foreign gaffer to take charge of the Mighty Warriors.

Sanchez, meanwhile, also becomes the head coach of the Zimbabwe men’s Under-23 coach.