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ZIMBABWE’S Warriors provided the nation with something to cheer our spirits with a crushing victory over Zambia for a record fifth COSAFA Castle Cup in South Africa yesterday.

Eight years after our fourth victory in the same tournament, with a 3-1 win over Zambia at Rufaro Stadium, the Warriors powered to a similar victory over Chipolopolo.

The Warriors got a deserved victory, with an identical winning-margin over the same opponents in Rustenberg yesterday.

After years of under-achievement in the COSAFA Castle Cup since our success in 2009, the Warriors made up for all that in style yesterday by destroying Zambia to bring a fitting closure to a tournament they dominated from the word go with a refreshing brand of attacking football.

Coach Sunday Chidzambwa and his troops went into the final as the favourites, on the back of their quality performances in the run-up to the big match, and justified their status with a performance rich in quality that showed why they were, by far, the best team at this year’s COSAFA Castle Cup.

Our boys, backed by a passionate band of supporters, who have been in their corner since the beginning of this tournament, refused to let the occasion overwhelm them and turned on a show full of character that was duly rewarded by a deserved victory.

Knox Mutizwa was named player of the tournament, although the Golden Boot winner Ovidy Karuru, who led his troops with aplomb, his co-captain Ocean Mushure, or the exciting Talent Chawapiwa, would have been full value for the Golden Ball.

But for us what matters is just seeing our country — a nation that loves its football — celebrating and we thank Chidzambwa and his troops for delivering another trophy into our cabinet.

It’s good to see our football producing winners again, and writing success stories, after years of negative headlines in which the game staggered from one crisis to another.

It’s a foundation that we should build on to ensure that we don’t go back to those dark days but, instead, go from strength to strength with the Warriors qualifying for the next Nation’s Cup finals in Cameroon.

Clearly, we have the talent and Chawapiwa’s performance has shown us that we have a lot of gems that simply need to be polished for them to make a significant contribution in bigger tournaments like the AFCON qualifiers.

There is no justification for us not to qualify for the next AFCON finals with the abundance of talent that we have.

With the Chevrons showing a return to life with their good performance in Sri Lanka, this is certainly a good time for Zimbabwean sport and long may this last.