It’s do-or-die for Gorowa’s men

gorowaLawrence Moyo in CAPE TOWN, South Africa
THE Zimbabwe Warriors have their fate in their hands but history against them as they seek to become the first team, not to score in the opening two matches, but still progress to the quarter-finals of the African Nations Championships finals here tonight. Zimbabwe, with two goalless draws in the opening two matches, take on Burkina Faso in their final Group B match at Athlone and need just a victory to reach the last eight as one of the group’s top two teams.

Group leaders Uganda take on second-placed Morocco at the Cape Town Stadium and both matches start at 7pm tonight.  Only Senegal have gone past the group stage of the CHAN finals with just one goal scored but theirs came in their first game of the inaugural tournament in 2009. In that tournament, Senegal got off to a winning start as they overcame Tanzania 1-0 while their remaining matches against Zambia and hosts Ivory Coast ended goalless.

Zimbabwe will also be inspired by the fact that in that tournament all four teams that went beyond the first round had a maximum five points from three matches and one of them (Senegal) needed just one goal to progress.

The second edition in Sudan (2011) showed progress in all fronts and two of the four group winners had a maximum nine points while the other two had seven. But again, consolation for Zimbabwe is that three of the second-placed qualifiers finished on five points which is the maximum the Warriors can get with victory tonight.

One of the teams, hosts Sudan, needed just two goals to progress as did Niger who, however, had two 1-0 wins in their Group B that included the Warriors. For the record, Zimbabwe have been in Group B for ALL three CHAN finals.

The Warriors coaches yesterday decided to hold their practice session at 6pm for the players to get used to conditions as their opening two matches were 5pm kick offs. Burkina Faso’s opening two matches were 8pm kick off and they will be more comfortable with a night match than the Warriors.

Warriors’ assistant coach, Callisto Pasuwa, said they have their plans for the game and would not be pressured to change the composition of their first XI despite the poor finishing by the forwards in the matches against Morocco and Uganda.

There have been calls to axe Simba Sithole (Dynamos), Donald Ngoma and Ali Sadiki and give other members of the 23-man squad a chance in tonight’s game.  However, Pasuwa yesterday said the match against Burkina Faso was not a dead rubber and they will field a squad they believe will deliver the goods.

“The game is not a dead rubber so there is no need to change the squad for the sake of giving others a chance. We have been working very hard , reviewing the first two games to find out where we are getting it wrong in front of goal.

“That is our only challenge, getting it right in front of goal. So it does not mean changing players for us to achieve that, it simply means us doing the right thing to get goals.  We will not pay attention to what is supposed to be pressure on us to change the team, we are sticking to our plans,” said Pasuwa.

The Dynamos coach also took the opportunity to explain the use of Highlanders winger Milton Ncube as a makeshift left-back when they brought natural left-back, Augustine Mbara.

“Initially there was Bruce Kangwa in the squad but he then excused himself for his wedding and we were left with just Mbara. But when we looked at Milton, he is very solid in that position and of all the left-backs we have tried to date, he is the best. He wins most duels and it is because of his solidity that Kuda Mahachi has been very effective upfront, it’s is because the wing is solid at the back.

“There is a good understanding also with Mahachi such that when he (Mahachi) plays wide on the line, Milton gets inside. So to us Milton is doing a very good job at left back even though he plays a more attacking role at his club,” said Pasuwa.

Then there is the use of Donald Ngoma in midfield at the expense of Highlanders star, Peter “Rio” Moyo.
“When you look at the videos of the games we have played, it is very easy for people to pick on Ngoma because he actually gets into the good positions, which is what every coach wants of a player.  He has to be in the right place at the right time.”

So barring dramatic changes to the coaches’ minds, there won’t be many changes to the Warriors starting line-up as they seek to extend their stay in Cape Town by another week. But they need to find the target first and then think of staying for the quarter-finals.

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