Legendary Zimbabwean goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar remains confident that he will get one last chance to be the country’s senior men national team coach.
Grobbelaar, popularly known as ‘The jungleman’, during his playing days, has in recent years constantly made a plea to Zifa for the opportunity to take charge of the Warriors for the last time.
Back in 1997 and 1998 The Jungleman was twice briefly player-manager of Zimbabwe's national team.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Telegraph last week, the 67-year-old expressed confidence that he will have one last dance with the Warriors.
“I’m quietly confident I will have one little dance with them again. They are in the Africa Cup of Nations [being staged in Morocco in December]. I’m planning to be there as a spectator. But there could be a little surprise. Who knows?” he said.
The former Liverpool shot stopper put his hand up last year to be considered for the job before the appointment of Michael Nees and publicly expressed his frustration after the German national got the job.
“Look man, I was the best person to take charge of the Warriors right now because this is my country, and everything I do comes from the bottom of my heart, and the desire to take my country forward. These foreign coaches are in it for money! After two years, they walk away with cash, and never bother to revise their work,” he was quoted as saying in local media.
“Lincoln Mutasa (Zifa NC chairman) is a gentleman, but his hands are tied. There are so many cooks in the kitchen and they confuse him. I still believe they will allow him to run the show, and appoint me instead of foreign coaches. I also met Minister Coventry, and I laid out my ambition to coach Zimbabwe,” he added.
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However, Nees appears to have struck the right code with the Warriors guiding them to the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations within three months of his appointment.
The Warriors have since been drawn in Group B along with Egypt, South Africa and Angola at the Afcon finals set to be held in Morocco in December 2025 and January 2026.
Nees will also be looking to revive the country's World Cup hopes where they anchor the standings in the qualifiers after four matches beginning next.
Grobbelaar played his football in South Africa, Zimbabwe and America before moving to England in the late 1970s.
After just a single season with Crewe, Grobbelaar joined Liverpool in March 1981 and enjoyed great success with the Reds during a 13-year career at Anfield as he won six First-Division titles, four League Cups, three FA Cups and one European Cup.
Grobbelaar is credited for being the first to employ theatrics and mind games during penalty shootouts which he famously did in the European Cup final against Roma in 1984 to help Liverpool win the title.
He reveals how he had employed a bizarre tactic long before while still playing in Zimbabwe.
“I played a game in Zimbabwe immediately after I came out of the army from the bush war. There was a penalty and I remembered that someone in the crowd had chucked this mask onto the pitch, which I’d put behind the goal. So I picked it up and put it on. It was the mask of an old man and when I turned around the striker was terrified and he missed. If that had happened today, I’d get sent off for ungentlemanly conduct. But the ref didn’t do anything and we won the game. So in that (1984) final I knew I had to do something to get into their mind,” he told The Telegraph.
