Warriors coach Norman Mapeza feels Germany-based youthful star Jonah Fabisch is not yet ready for the national team after handing him his debut during the World Cup qualifier draw at home to Ethiopia on Sunday.
Zimbabwe concluded their Qatar World Cup qualification matches with a disappointing one-all draw against Ethiopia to finish bottom of Group G with just two points in six matches.
Fabisch, who has been part of the team since the qualifiers began, was a 55th-minute substitute at the National Sports Stadium, starting slow and gaining in confidence towards the end of the match.
Mapeza initially appeared agitated when asked to comment on Fabisch’s performance suggesting that he had been pressured to play him.
“At the end of the day you guys saw him and there were so many people who were talking about him so it’s for you guys to give a comment. It’s for you guys who wanted to see Jonah, who wanted to see Bill, Antonio” he told journalists on Sunday.
“I put him because I have been working with him but when people demand of someone they don’t even know and now you are asking me how was Jonah? You saw it go and talk about it.
“For me, Jonah is a good youngster he just needs time for the national teams but there is no need to put him under pressure or to put me under pressure because of these youngsters.
“I have worked with them, even when I introduced Khama Billiat I didn’t just throw him in the fray but slowly like 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes until he got to play international football so its the same thing with those young guys I called into the national team,” he said.
The 20-year-old Fabisch who plays for Hamburger SV II is the son of the late former Warriors coach Reinhardt Fabisch.
