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Someone like Ben Kouffie, the Ghanaian coach who told us, when we fired him in the formative years of the ’90s decade, that even if we hired a super coach from the moon, we would never qualify for any major tournament.
Someone like the late Nelson Chirwa, whom we forced out of office in disgraceful fashion, despite all the years that he had put into service for this country as the head of our football association.
Someone like that unknown sangoma, whose story, that he had cursed the Warriors because of an unpaid bill after our triumph in the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup, kept being whispered every time we collapsed.
Frustration tends to build desperation and, in our hour of disillusionment, we tended to lose our senses and, naturally, tried to find a source to pour out our venom of disappointment.
As is often the case in such inquests, we blamed just about everyone but ourselves.
We cursed fate because we believed there were some supernatural powers at play, and we cursed the football gods, whoever they are, because we were sure they were not exercising Fair Play on us.
We even asked Ndumiso Gumede to come and perform a cleansing ceremony of the National Sports Stadium and we saw a black goat brought in for the occasion, a bull being slaughtered, songs being sung, traditional beer being sprinkled all over the place and fodya ye bute sprayed on the goal areas.
In that traditional Ndebele dress, Gumede looked like a true Warrior, and it was fitting that he should be doing it for the Warriors and, when we left the giant stadium, we were so sure that our luck would change and something good would happen to our national team.
We were so pretty sure that the past, a sad chapter of coming so close yet so far away from dining with the heavyweights of football on the continent or on the globe, had been confined to history.
In the battle for the ’92 Nations Cup finals, it had all ended in tears right in the stadium that we called our fortress, when the late John Sibanda, then a surprise choice for a place in the starting XI against Congo, turned on a nightmarish show that ended our journey.
He was at fault for the two goals we conceded but it was the killer second, right at the end of the match, which hurt the most in that 2-2 draw that destroyed our quest.
And, rather than having images of delirious Warriors celebrating a ticket to the Nations Cup the following day, we had that iconic photo in The Herald on Monday that captured the depressed mood of a tortured nation.
Moses Chunga and Peter Ndlovu, sitting side-by-side on the bench in the dressing room, without their shirts, their heads bowed to show the emotional rebellion that was wrecking havoc in their shattered souls.
Seeing the duo, who had been the standout players on the afternoon, with Chunga turning on one of his best performances for the Warriors and King Peter leading the attack with aplomb, in such a depressed state, really rubbed salt into our gashing wounds and brought the full impact of our failure home.
In the battle for the ’94 Nations Cup finals, our journey also ended right in the fortress that we called our home, and just like two years earlier, a late goal destroyed our dream when Kalusha Bwalya somehow chose that decisive moment to head home his first goal in international football.
The 1-1 draw wasn’t good enough for us, in a game we needed to win and where we slammed the post after taking the lead, and that Zambia went all the way to the final at the ’94 Nations Cup in Tunisia, where they bravely lost out to Nigeria, amplified the degree of the pain we suffered.
As we watched the drama unfold in Tunisia and Kalusha and his men take their place in the final, we couldn’t help but also believe that this was the level where our Dream Team belonged, because if the Zambians needed to scrap a draw to hold us and then go all the way at the finals, it meant we were also very good.
The difference, we told ourselves, was fate —  it was cruel to us and kinder to our brothers across the Zambezi.
Maybe, just maybe, things would be better for us away from the “cursed” National Sports Stadium, and there was a bigger fish to catch, with a ticket to the ’94 World Cup finals on the line, when we arrived in Yaounde, Cameroon, for a winner-take-all contest.
By the end of an epic battle we were not only down but out, the Berlin Walls of the Dream Team that Reinhard Fabisch had built were beginning to fall one by one, the German coach was about to get a one-year ban by Caf for waving US dollar notes in the referee’s face to suggest the match official had been bribed and, again, at the final hurdle, we had collapsed.
But one day, after we had tried all the foreign coaches we could afford — Ben Kouffie, Ian Porterfield, Rudi Gutendorf, Reinhard Fabisch, you name them — and they had failed to take us over the line, a homegrown solution was found, Sunday Chidzambwa came along and our nightmare ended in 2003.

We need the spirit of 2003
When the Warriors finally exorcised their Nations Cup ghost in 2003, there is one thing they did differently from what they had done in the previous campaigns littered by a trail of heartbreaks.
Mhofu and his men refused to collapse on the final hurdle, even when that examination threw them into the tough jungle of Bamako in Mali where a defeat would have ended their quest for a place in Tunisia the following year.
They withstood a barrage of attacks from the hosts, who knew victory would end this showdown and win them the ticket, and who still carried scars from the 0-1 defeat in Harare when Lazarus Muhoni arrived at the back post unmarked to tap home a lovely low cross from King Peter.
A chartered Air Zimbabwe flight had taken them to Bamako and there were scores of their fans to cheer them on and they refused to be beaten and came out of the stadium with a credible 0-0 draw.
It proved a priceless point as Zimbabwe ended with 13 points, the same as group winners Mali, but we grabbed one of the tickets reserved for the two best runners-up.
And, in a group in which we took FOUR points from Mali and stopped them from scoring over two legs, ending up with the same number of wins (four), number of draws (one) and an identical one loss, you could say we were fair value for our ticket.
Mhofu and his men, who included Peter Ndlovu, finally shattered the myth that we always collapse when faced with the final hurdle and that they grabbed the priceless point away in Bamako, put the magnitude of their grand efforts into proper context.
Never again would we be viewed as the nearly men of African football, those Warriors who wilted under pressure and collapsed when it mattered most, and it’s that kind of indomitable spirit that we need to carry into the 11 November Stadium tomorrow when we face Angola.
It’s that never-say-die attitude that we need for 90 minutes tomorrow in a winner-take-all showdown that doesn’t afford the loser another shot for redemption.
Fifteen years ago we were in Luanda with Porterfield in charge of the Warriors needing a two-goal winning margin, in the final game of the qualifying campaign, to break our Nations Cup virginity and make it to the ’98 finals in Burkina Faso.
Fate had again been cruel to us with our impressive 3-0 win over Sudan in Khartoum, under Bruce Grobbelaar, being nullified, after the Sudanese pulled out of the qualifying campaign after civil unrest hit the eastern parts of their country.
That left a three-team race, just like the current qualifiers for the 2013 Nations Cup finals, which had Burundi, who fell by the wayside in the previous round, Angola and our Warriors.
The Angolans were already out of the race, on three points, with an inactive Ghana sitting on seven points, having completed their campaign, and knowing that if we won 2-0, we would finish tied with the Black Stars on seven points, but with the Warriors qualifying on goal difference.
But the Palancas Negras played for their pride and beat us 2-1 and we both crashed out of contention while the Black Stars eased their way into the finals in Burkina Faso.
They know that 2-1 won’t be enough for them this time, in a game where they begin the contest weighed down by the baggage of a 1-3 first leg deficit, and with their lifeline coming from goals in a scenario where the more they score, the better their chances, they are likely to come out at us with all guns blazing.
But if our boys deserve to play at the 2013 Nations Cup finals then they should be good enough to weather whatever storm comes their way blowing from the Atlantic into the November 11 Stadium tomorrow because, with all due respect, if we can’t defend a 3-1 lead, then we don’t deserve to be in Mzansi.
In a scenario where even if we are as bad as the Porterfield Class of ’97, which lost 1-2 in Luanda, we will still be able to qualify, it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to justify failure to defend the lead we built through sweat and blood in Harare last month.
It’s the first time, really, in our history, where we plunge into the final game of the qualifiers away from home, knowing that even in defeat we could be able to squeeze through.
It’s a very healthy position to be in and, while a 2-0 win at Rufaro would have been better than our 3-1 win because of the dangers that the away goal we conceded pose, anyone who tells you that he wouldn’t have taken a 1-0 win at Rufaro before the game would be lying.
Now that we made it 3-1, we have to fight to defend our position, just like the pioneers who showed us the way when they battled to a goalless draw against Mali in Bamako, Rahman and his men have to do it simply because it can, and it must, be done.
Failure, as Gideon Gono used to say in his battle against hyperinflation, isn’t an option.
It won’t be easy, no doubt about that, but neither is this Mission Impossible and, for once, as the Angolans messed up a number of chances in that second half at Rufaro, you could feel that even the gods of football, who were frustratingly against us in the past, were now in our corner.
But we have to fight very hard to get what belongs to us and if there is anyone out there who believes that this will be a stroll in the park, that this mission has already been accomplished, that we are already there in South Africa, then that person is living on Mars.
We have an advantage, nothing more and nothing less, but the Angolans are at home, and that makes a huge difference, that gives them the edge, and some questionable decisions, mark my words, will go their way and we will be sitting right on the edge in what is likely to be a very long 90 minutes for us tomorrow.
A goal for Angola changes everything and there will be a blitzkrieg, should that happen, and while we have the edge, a big advantage, we aren’t home and dry and our fate will be determined by how we respond to the challenge in the 11 November Stadium tomorrow.

Letter from Mutuvha Farai
I must say I am quite happy with the huge financial rewards promised to our Warriors in the event that we pass the Palancas Negras hurdle but I think it’s very unfair to those players who played a part from Match One of the qualifiers but are, unfortunately, set to miss out the decisive encounter on Sunday.
I think there should be a system to reward all of them, not necessarily the ones that will make the grade for this do-or-die encounter.
Qualification is not achieved through those 90 minutes (in Angola only). Let’s not forget that we had to beat Burundi and those guys who did duty also equally deserve residential stands in the event that we make it.
Imagine the possibility of Malajila, Murambadoro and that guy from Mozambique (Swaziland) gate-crashing on the rewards and spare a thought for the likes of Kapini, Katsande and Karuru.
Come on Khamaldinhooooooo and to God be the Glory, as you would always put it.

Message from Mthuthuki Ngango Ndhlovu
We all love our Warriors but they have a history of letting us down every time when it matters the most hence we have had headlines like “so near yet so far”, “perennial bridesmaid”, “underachievers”.
Aided by overzealous journalists, who are good at blowing up stories in all corners in the backdrop of the Asiagate scandal, suddenly a whole bunch of thugs/players are acquitted in the Asiagate scandal to force their way into the team.
And a giant Jackal suddenly arises, in the name of Mzansi90, with unimaginable budgets yet Zifa was struggling all along and Cuthbert Dube was shouldering all the burden. Can we stop being hype-makers and money-chopping committee machines of a footballing nation of “much ado about nothing”?

A Friend that is there for life
The Warriors’ story this week would be incomplete without saluting the great work that has been done by Patience Khumalo and her colleagues at Mbada Diamonds, who have forked close to US$400 000 into this cause in the past two weeks.
Mbada Diamonds only came to the domestic football scene last year but they have done so much, in just the last year, than what other traditional football partners have done in the past decade.
They are blazing a trail and now we have a clutch of mining companies that are also coming on board to support the game and it’s a very good position to be in for our football which, only three years ago, just had one sponsor standing — BancABC.
What I like about Mbada Diamonds is their ability to deliver, as and when there are serious challenges facing our national game, and on Thursday, when Zifa had given up all hope about getting a chartered flight to Angola, Patience and her colleagues opened their cheque book and wrote a US$180 000 cheque.
You add that to the US$200 000 they injected into the Mzansi90 fund, the daily allowances they were paying the players during the camp for the first leg against Angola, the appearance fee they paid the players, the winning bonus and the accommodation and transport costs, you come up with a fortune.
A week after the Battle of Luanda, Mbada Diamonds will be back in the trenches again, this time bankrolling the quarter-finals of the Mbada Diamonds Cup.
Now, that’s a true football friend for life just like what Savanna Tobacco is to the Dynamos and Highlanders fans.

Amid Great Expectations let’s be real
No Warriors team has been supported, in recent years, as much as this group because everyone has been pulling from one side and all the newspapers have concentrated on nothing but whipping support for the team and the companies have also responded likewise.
The hate language disappeared this week and all that we have been hearing are good words, great words, all about optimism, nothing about pessimism, and that is why the boys have to deliver because they have been backed all the way by everyone.
But it is important for us to be cognisant of the fact that our Warriors don’t have a very good record, when it comes to playing away from home, and in our last Nations Cup qualifier, we lost in Burundi, who are generally a weaker football nation than Angola.
Interestingly our last win away from home came under Rahman eight years ago when we beat Rwanda 2-0, in a 2006 in World Cup/Nations Cup qualifier, on June 27 2004.
We have played 13 games (World Cup/Nations Cup), won zero, drawn four and lost nine.
Our draws have come against Algeria (2-2) under Mhlauri, Guinea (0-0) under Valinhos, Liberia (1-1) under Mapeza and Mozambique (0-0) under Rahman.
We have lost to Angola (0-1), Nigeria (1-5), Malawi (0-1) and Morocco (0-2) under Mhlauri; Kenya (0-2) and Namibia (2-4) under Valinhos; Mali (0-1) and Cape Verde (1-2) under Mapeza and Burundi (1-2) under Rahman.
We have scored eight goals and conceded 23 for four out of 39 points at a failure rate of around 10,25 percent on the road.

Let’s end this Shakespearean tragedy
During the dark days when we routinely collapsed on the final hurdle, Lovemore Banda used his powerful poetic voice on ZBC’s main news on television to famously define our Warriors as yet another classic example of Shakespearean tragedy.
Banda said the inevitability of it all was that there will be tears in the end and what will change, now and again, are the characters who will carry the burden to try and find the switch to bring the light to the gloom in a futile exercise that will be repeated year after year.
In 2003 Mhofu and his Warriors, who included Peter Ndlovu, proved that myth wrong and gave the senior national team a new lease of life.
But the reality is that we have only been to the Nations Cup twice, in 32 years, and it’s now six years since we last played at the last Nations Cup finals, which, to some extent, means Banda’s prophecy remains true even to this day.
In the last campaign, we crashed at the final hurdle in Cape Verde when a win would have taken us through.
The challenge is on the Class of 2012 to prove that we have turned the corner and there is no better way to do it than finding the result in Luanda tomorrow that gives us a ticket to South Africa.
To God Be The Glory!
Come on Warriors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Khamaldinhooooooooooooooooooooo!

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