Chirewa Won't Be Punished For His Reaction To Being Substituted, Says Nees
Warriors coach Michael Nees has said England-based forward Tawanda Chirewa will not face any punishment for expressing his frustration about being substituted during Zimbabwe’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Kenya in Uganda last month.
The 20-year-old, currently on loan at Derby County from Wolverhampton Wanderers, was unhappy with the coach’s decision to take him off in the 58th minute.
Chirewa was so upset that he declined to speak to the media before the subsequent match against Cameroon.
In that game, he did not start and only came on as a substitute in the 86th minute for Walter Musona.
In an interview with Zimpapers Sports Hub, Nees revealed that Chirewa has apologised twice for the incident, and the matter is now resolved. Said Nees:
(What happened) is a normal thing in football, although It’s not a good thing.
There are no ill feelings from my side and the boy mustn’t be worried about being punished whatsoever. I am not a dictator.
There will always be hiccups in team development. The only thing is that this cannot happen always and the players need to understand why it should not happen.
The good thing is that he (Chirewa) apologised two times, what else must he do now? That’s more than enough, it’s now over.
He was angry because he was substituted, he was very angry with himself maybe.
And everybody expresses emotions differently, but that is over.
Chirewa has started only once in Derby County’s seven league matches since joining the club on a temporary deal in August.
Nees also clarified the reasons for benching Chirewa during the goalless draw against Cameroon on September 10. He said:
Tawanda is a very talented player, but look at how much game time he had in the last two, or three months.
So, for him to start the game against Kenya and then play about 60 minutes in an international match was in itself an achievement and a sign of trust from the technical team.
But against Cameroon, we needed to have a different approach, because it was a different team, and I thought, we needed a little bit more physical presence.
That’s why another player (Douglas Mapfumo) came in and it proved to be good. It was not like a punishment for Chirewa.
Nees compared Chirewa’s situation to a 1970s incident in German football involving player Gunter Netzer, who, after starting the 1973 DFB Cup final on the bench, substituted himself into the match during extra time and scored the winning goal.
Nees said both the coach and the player faced no issues from this occurrence, adding that such events are not uncommon in football.
More: Pindula News
