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Farayi Mungazi Special Correspondent

A FRIEND of mine from Nigeria was typically blunt in the aftermath of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations draw — “absolutely zero chance,” he replied when I asked him to rate Zimbabwe’s prospects in Group B.This may sound like an odd thing to say about a team that qualified for Gabon with a game to spare.But the reality is that the Warriors have been lumped together with three heavyweights of African football.

Algeria conquered the continent in 1990, Tunisia were champions in 2004 and Senegal finished runners-up in 2002.It’s a football truism that great players make good teams better.

So you don’t need to be Einstein to work out that the Warriors don’t have the world-class quality available to their opponents.With this in mind, most pundits hold the view that Zimbabwe will need a Herculean effort to get anything against three teams with solid Nations Cup pedigrees.

However, there is no need to start running for the hills just yet.

I believe the Warriors are more than capable of making sure none of their opponents enjoy an easy ride into the knock-out stages.

After all, the fact that underdogs can put a few noses out of joint is one of the qualities that make tournament football such an attractive proposition.

Since the draw, I’ve been wondering just how competitive the Warriors would have been if they had a player like Stanford “Stix” Mtizwa in his prime playing alongside Willard Katsande, Khama Billiat and Knowledge Musona.

Unless you’re old enough to have watched him in action in the 1980s, you probably won’t understand why the mind boggles at the thought.Almost everyone has that one special player who gets them all misty-eyed when they reminisce about the past.

For me, it’s Mtizwa.

He is the former player I miss the most and it’s a terrible shame there are no midfielders of his creative ability around today.Let me use a musical analogy: the Warriors orchestra needs a conductor to run the show, someone who can direct those around him and set the tempo.

In other words, Callisto Pasuwa needs a midfielder who can take charge of the team’s engine room, in addition to loading the bullets for those tasked with pulling the trigger upfront.

It’s my considered opinion that for the Warriors to be transformed into genuine trophy-hunters, they need to find a playmaker of Mtizwa’s class.They showed plenty of flaws in their qualifying campaign and a lack of direction in midfield was one of them.In fact, the Warriors midfield is often plagued by uncertainty, especially in big games.

People often say that comparisons between eras are futile, but I’m fully persuaded that Mtizwa would be a superstar in any era.To watch him at the height of his powers was a special privilege.Explaining his brilliance would probably require a whole book, but I’ll stick to a few words!

He excelled in an era of truly outstanding midfielders such as his teammate Joel Shambo, Willard Khumalo, Hamid Dhana, Achieford Chimutanda, Kuda Muchemeyi and David Muchineripi.

More than that though, Mtizwa was an intelligent reader of the game and the cornerstone of the CAPS United dynasty of the 1980s.His low-key personality and unpretentious playing style didn’t generate the hype that surrounded many of his peers.

He was never a flashy player, just a devastatingly effective one, a midfielder blessed with superb vision and excellent passing abilities.His first touch was sublime, not to mention his knack for breaking into the box to score important goals.The defining trademark of his game was, of course, his jaw-dropping chest control.

The manner in which a football “rested” on his chest was frighteningly good.To this day he remains the most technically gifted Zimbabwean footballer I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching.

I would go so far as to say that one of the great injustices of football is that Stix never got the chance to parade his skills on a stage as big as the Africa Cup of Nations finals.

If I were a football god designing the perfect player to lift the Warriors to another level today, I have no doubt that I would end up with a player closely resembling the CAPS United legend.

He is a perfect example of the type of player the Warriors have lacked for several years, the kind of midfielder who would give the team a bit of everything in the middle of the park.

Farayi Mungazi works for the BBC in London. Follow him on Twitter @BBCFarayi