Warriors Coach Marinica Outlines Football Philosophy

Zimbabwe national football team head coach Marian “Mario” Marinica is urging the Warriors to quickly adapt to his style of play, which focuses on moving the ball forward quickly.

The Romanian-born British coach is currently in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where the Warriors are set to face Algeria in an international friendly this Thursday.

Speaking in a virtual media briefing from Saudi Arabia, Marinica outlined his football philosophy and what he expects from the team on the pitch. He said:

“My philosophy of playing is called fast and very fast, which actually means think fast, act, move fast and be well prepared and organised.

“And that means in everything, including on and off the pitch. So basically, I would like players to start thinking fast; that’s what they have to do in terms of strategy.

“How they have to execute elements is tactical and technical. How do they have to prepare physically to execute these elements?”

Marinica said he was impressed by the team’s quality and added that he wants his players to play more directly to pose a greater threat to the opponent’s goal. He said:

“The boys have reacted very well. I was very impressed with that. I knew I hadn’t worked with them, so I was impressed by their quality.

“Very good players, very good quality from the players I saw yesterday (on Monday).

“But we’ll have to see, because at the end of the day, the better quality player is the one who is able to express themselves on the pitch.

“So, I was impressed with that. What I now want from them is to be more direct because sometimes there are too many passes, too many, let’s say, negative plays, rather than being direct to threaten the opponent’s goal.

“That’s one of the major weaknesses in the last four games; they have failed to score a goal, so we have to improve on that.”

The Warriors face Algeria today at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium, with kick-off scheduled for 6:30 PM Central African Time.

More: The Herald