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THE Warriors embark on another journey tomorrow to try and qualify for the African Cup of Nations finals when they host the Lone Star of Liberia before an expected and expectant huge home crowd at the National Sports Stadium. Tomorrow’s match comes exactly a year after the Warriors ended 10 years of trying, and failing, to secure a ticket to Africa’s biggest football festival when their 3-0 demolition of Malawi secured them a place at the 2017 AFCON finals in Gabon.

A lot has changed since that afternoon when our boys doused the Flames with the Warriors failing to play to expectations in Gabon, despite a promising start which saw them hold the highly-rated Desert Foxes of Algeria in their first group game.

A point, from a possible nine in Gabon, where they also finished bottom of their group, cost coach Callisto Pasuwa his job after his contract was not extended leading to the appointment of Norman Mapeza to take charge of tomorrow’s match on a caretaker basis, pending the naming of a substantive coach.

Tomorrow’s game is the only 2019 AFCON qualifier for the Warriors this year, with their next match coming in March next year, and the ZIFA leadership have been arguing that the nine-month window will help them get the right man to guide our senior national football team.

The leadership of the team has also changed with Willard Katsande, who captained the Warriors in their successful campaign to qualify for Gabon, having been overlooked for this match — and announcing his retirement from international football — and Mapeza appointing Knowledge Musona as the new skipper.

The new coach has also chosen to drop veterans like Cuthbert Malajila and Nyasha Mushekwi, who featured prominently in the last campaign, while another striker Matthew Rusike and goalkeeper Tatenda Mukuruva were also not considered for national duty.

The absence of talented forward Khama Billiat and wingback Hardlife Zvirekwi, who are both injured, means the Warriors, who will troop into battle tomorrow against the Lone Star, will feature a number of new faces in their line-up.

There is no doubt this is a huge assignment because, as the team showed in their last successful AFCON qualifying campaign where they built their success on the foundation of an opening game victory over Malawi, it’s always important to have a firm foundation.

Although some people have chosen to dismiss Liberia, who crashed to a 0-3 defeat on their last visit to this country six years ago as lightweight opponents, we believe that a lot has changed in African football now and the suggestion that there are small or weak nations no longer holds true.

After all, as Swaziland showed in the 2017 AFCON qualifiers by beating Guinea home and away, the gulf that used to separate the so-called giants and the lightweights has significantly narrowed and all opponents need to be handled with the respect they deserve.

We are happy that the usual negative stories that traditionally emerge when the Warriors are in camp, like the players rejecting their accommodation as sub-standard or fighting with the local football leadership for allowances and bonuses, have not been part of the team’s preparations for tomorrow’s match.

The new skipper Musona said the base where they are camped, in exclusive five-star suits at the hotel complex owned by the ZIFA benefactor prophet Walter Magaya in Waterfalls, is the best facility he has been housed in while on national duty since he first broke into the team seven years ago.

That is encouraging news for a team which, even when it was preparing for their trip to Gabon, fought running battles with their football leaders as they rejected the ZIFA Village as sub-standard while they also found themselves being locked out of the National Sports Stadium, disrupting their training sessions, because of payment complications.

Now, what we demand from the boys is for them to go onto the field and represent their country with pride because this mission is not for them alone, but for Zimbabwe and their success tends to cheer the spirits of this nation.

We also appeal to the fans to come in large numbers as was the case when the Warriors were hunting for that 2017 AFCON finals ticket, and throw their weight behind the boys and also make the Liberians feel they have ventured into hostile territory where visitors don’t stand a chance of coming out with victory.

The Warriors have always been one of the most supported national football team on the continent and, after having finally ended the pain for their fans by delivering that ticket to the Nations Cup finals in Gabon, they can be guaranteed there will be a lot of supporters singing in their corner tomorrow.

We have to qualify for the next AFCON finals in Cameroon, and that journey starts tomorrow, because we have the quality of players and, also, devoted fans who have always stood by their team in good and bad times and we deserve more than what they have been given by their team.