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Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor–
THE Warriors will be the only troops missing in action when group stage qualifiers for the 2015 Nations Cup finals get underway in September after all their neighbouring battalions booked their tickets for the final onslaught for a place in Morocco. Mozambique and Botswana’s success in the second round of the preliminaries meant that Zimbabwe is now sandwiched by countries — from the north, east, south and west — who will all be playing in the group stages of the 2015 Nations Cup qualifiers.

Zambia — who won the Nations Cup title two years ago — and South Africa, winners of the tournament on home soil in 1996, were both exempted from playing in the preliminaries to book their places in the group stages of the qualifiers for a place in Morocco next year.

But Mozambique won their place in the group stages after beating a Tanzania side, which eliminated the Warriors at the first hurdle, 4-3 on aggregate following a 2-1 win in Maputo at the weekend to compliment their 2-2 draw from the first leg in Dar-es-Salaam.

The Mambas will play in Group F which features Zambia, Cape Verde and Niger with their first match in September being a blockbuster tie away to Chipolopolo in Ndola.

Botswana, too, won their place in the group stages after a 3-1 aggregate victory over Guinea-Bissau with the Zebras, who carried a 2-0 lead from the first leg at home, forcing a 1-1 draw away.

The Zebras are in Group G and will battle against Egypt, Tunisia and Senegal for the two places available for tickets to Morocco.
Malawi also recovered from a 0-1 first leg loss in Benin to beat their West African opponents by the same scoreline, in Blantyre, before holding their nerve, in the penalty shoot-out, to win 4-3.

The Flames are in Group B where they will play Mali, Algeria and Ethiopia for a place in Morocco.
Little Lesotho will also be part of the group stages of the qualifiers after a brave goalless draw in Kenya at the weekend ensured they preserved their 1-0 win from the home tie in Maseru to qualify.

The Crocodiles are in group C where they will battle Angola, Gabon and Burkina Faso for a place at the 2015 Nations Cup finals.

BIG NAMES DON’t PLAY FOOTBALL
Lesotho took on a Kenyan team captained by Southampton midfielder Victor Wanyama and whose attack was led by Dennis Oliech, who plays for French Ligue 1 side Ajaccio, but the Crocodiles prevented the Harambee Stars from scoring in 180 minutes and showed that having big names isn’t a guarantee for success.

The Harambee Stars were flown to Brazil to watch the 2014 World Cup by Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta, who felt that if his troops could see others playing at the global showcase, they would find the inspiration to go the extra mile and try and qualify for big tournaments.

But the Kenyans were suffocated by the plucky Crocodiles who continued their fairy-tale run after they also upset Liberia in the previous preliminary round of the same qualifiers.

THE REACTION FROM KENYA
The Kenya Football Federation dissolved the Harambee Stars technical team of coach Adel Amrouche, technical director Jacob “Ghost” Mulee and assistants Ken Odhiambo and James Nandwa and disbanded the national team in the wake of their defeat at the hands of Lesotho.

“Kenya FA President Sam Nyamweya has with immediate effect disbanded the technical bench of national team Harambee Stars after defeat to Lesotho in Afcon 2015 qualifier,” the KFF said in a statement sent to media houses moments after the match. Wanyama, who captained the team, backed the decision for the creation of a new national team.

“This campaign is gone and we must now start looking at the future. We need to bring in new players into the team,” Wanyama told Goal.com.

“We should stop pointing fingers now and start planning for the future. Two years is a long time to put things right and Football Kenyan Federation should lead by example and make sure that a panel is formed to start scouting for new talent to play for the team.”

Malawi also eliminated a Benin team led by Stephane Sessegnon, who plays for English Premiership side West Bromwich Albion with the star forward, who leads the goal-scoring charts in the 2015 Nations Cup qualifiers, missing from the penalty spot in the shoot-out.

WHY WE SHOULDN’t HIDE BEHIND FINANCIAL CHALLENGES
The Zebras’ trip to Guinea-Bissau was hanging in the balance, until the last-minute, because of financial challenges facing the Botswana Football Association who did not have money to foot the team’s bill for the flight to West Africa.

Reports also emerged last week that the players were unhappy that they hadn’t been paid bonuses from previous assignments for their nation.
Coach Peter James Butler even tweeted that he had been informed by the BFA chief executive, Keith Masters, that there was no money to pay for the trip to Guinea Bissau.

“Yes, there is a shortage of  funds which is making life difficult,” BFA chief executive, Keith Masters, told the Botswana Gazette.

“We are desperately trying to rectify the situation and I am hopeful this will be resolved without having to worry the team unduly.”
Butler said he had wanted to leave a day earlier, so that the Zebras will have time to train in Ghana, and when he was told that there were insufficient funds for the trip, he was concerned this would affect his strategy and plans.

The Zebras, though, got money from the Botswana Government, which enabled them to travel to Guinea-Bissau, where they battled their way to a draw to grab their ticket to Morocco.

THE FIXTURES THAT COULD HAVE BEEN
In the wake of Mozambique’s success from the preliminary rounds of the qualifiers we can only dream about what could have been, for the Warriors, had they powered into the group stages of the qualifiers.

Well, given that would have meant beating the Mambas in the final preliminary round qualifier, it means that the Warriors would have started with an away tie against Zambia, boy oh boy, you can only manage the magnitude of such a titanic contest, in Ndola, on the weekend of September 5-6.
The next two games would have been at home against Niger on September 10 and Cape Verde, remember them from the 2012 Nations Cup qualifiers, Tom Saintfiet and all that drama, on the weekend of October 10-11?

The battles against the Cape Verde islands would have been back-to-back fixtures with the next game set for Praia on October 15, a blockbuster home tie on the weekend of November 14-15 against Zambia, and the echoes of that ’94 Nations Cup qualifier, the Dream Team, Reinhard Fabisch, Kalusha Bwalya, that header late in the game and silence, absolute silence, inside the packed National Sports Stadium.

Then, of course, there would be the little matter of a final away tie against Niger on November 19.
But, who cares anyway, after all it’s not us who are playing those games but the Mozambicans.