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Petros Kausiyo in SUN CITY, South Africa
ZIMBABWE striker Knox Mutizwa has warned against complacency if the Warriors are to negotiate their way out of the COSAFA Castle Cup preliminary round which burst into life with a Group A double header at Moruleng Stadium here yesterday.

The Warriors will begin their bid for a record fifth title when they face Mozambique in the first of the Group B games which gets underway at 5pm at the same venue today. Madagascar, one of the surprise packages of the 2015 edition, which was also staged in the North West province of South Africa, will then tackle fellow Indian Ocean islanders Seychelles in the second encounter at 7.30pm.

Zimbabwe, joint record four-time winners, will reach a milestone in the 20-year history of the tournament when they become the first nation to play 50 COSAFA Castle Cup games. But for Golden Arrows striker Mutizwa, it is more about how the Warriors approach their Group B assignments, which will be key to their success and a ticket to the quarter-final stage.

Swaziland who have been doing well in the last two editions of this competition will be waiting to face the winner of Group B in the quarter-finals. For Mutizwa and his teammates, the focus at the moment is firmly on a Mozambique side that has never beaten Zimbabwe in a COSAFA Castle Cup game.

The Warriors had a feel of the match venue with a late afternoon session on Saturday and as they wound up their preparations yesterday, Sunday Chidzambwa’s men were in upbeat mood.

Mutizwa said he was also relishing the opportunity of playing in the COSAFA Castle Cup, which he believes provides him with a chance to convince the coaches that he is ripe for a place in the Warriors’ African Cup of Nations squad.

“I think it is a great opportunity for me to represent my country even if it’s the COSAFA tournament.

“I think this is a great step forward for me to be considered for the AFCON squad and with the help of my teammates I will try and do my best.

“Like I said we should not take any team lightly and we should be prepared to go in there and fight. It’s not going to be easy when you consider the fact that a country like Madagascar uses the same team for every competition, whether it is CHAN, COSAFA, World Cup or AFCON and there have been together for a long time and maybe that is why they have been improving.

“In every tournament you have to win the first game so that your confidence is boosted and it sends a message to all your opponents about who you are and for us the most important match so far is this game against Mozambique.

“We have to do everything right to win it,’’ Mutizwa said.

Mutizwa said the Warriors could only read much into the low profiles of their opponents at their own demise.

“You look at a team like Madagascar have been together for a long time now and have really gelled in so you might have the better talent, but if we underestimate them and you also fail to play as a team, you will be shocked to lose,’’ Mutizwa said.

Mutizwa who looks set to be handed the responsibility of leading the Warriors line of attack in this campaign after a decent debut in the South African Premiership said they would treat each of their opponents with equal respect, “even if they might say they brought young sides.

“Every team is here to compete whether they brought a very young side or very experienced side and we just have treated all our opponents with the same respect and try and do our best in order to achieve our goal which is to win this tournament.

“We also want to be part of the history of teams of that have won this competition,’’ Mutizwa said.

The former Highlanders man reckoned that their game against the Mambas this afternoon could set the tone of their campaign. Mozambique also have their ambitions to win their first title in the 20-year-history in three meetings between the Warriors and the Mambas, Zimbabwe have won all, scoring seven and conceding none.

The Warriors go into battle needing to preserve their dominance over the Mambas. But as Mambas assistant coach Alcides Chambal warned, the Mozambicans are eager to finally “get the monkey off their back’’ and get one over Zimbabwe in today’s game.

Alcides is hoping that in the absence of such experienced players like Elias Pelembe, who won the 2017 ABSA championship with Bidvest Wits, such unheralded players Marufo Baicha, Hemenegildo Capena and Shelton Dava can use this tournament to shine.

The Mambas, just like many teams that are taking part here, have welcomed the timing of the tournament which comes just a week before they plunge into the African Nations Championships. Zimbabwe also have one eye on the CHAN qualifier against Namibia and coach Sunday Chidzambwa said he would use the tournament to assess some of the players to be recommended for use in that clash against the Brave Warriors.

The veteran coach said although he had not seen much of the Mozambican game recently he was aware they are in buoyant mood following their triumph over Zambia in a Nations Cup qualifier.