Warriors eye history

of home-based Warriors are now fancying their chances of advancing to the quarter-finals and writing their own piece of history.
The Warriors roared back into contention on Wednesday night then they beat fancied Ghana 1-0 in a Group B encounter at Wad Medani Stadium.
Highly-rated Dynamos midfielder Arch-ieford Gutu — scoring his first goal for the Warriors — headed home the winner in the 70th minute from a Norman Maroto cross.
That victory also helped the Warriors silence their critics, some of whom had written them off, following their surprise  0-1 defeat by Niger in their opening game.
But Madinda Ndlovu’s men ensured they were back in the reckoning with their victory over Ghana.
That result, coupled with South Africa’s 2-0 triumph over Niger in an earlier match at the same venue, left Group B as open as it was before the start of the tournament last Friday.
But the Warriors, their confidence restored after the morale shattering loss to Niger, were in upbeat mood after checking into a far better lodging —Al-Fardous Hotel — in the heart of Khartoum and they immediately declared that they had now set their eyes on qualifying for the quarter-finals.
Two teams from each of the four groups at the 16-team CHAN tournament advance to the quarter-finals.
Despite having slumped to the bottom of their group after the first round of mat-ches, Gutu’s winner saw the Warriors jump into second place behind South Africa and ahead of Niger and winless and pointless Ghana.
But any of the four teams in Group B still have a chance to qualify for the quarter-finals setting the stage for explosive final pool matches on Sunday night.
Zimbabwe will take on South Africa in a Limpopo derby clash at the Al Hilal stadium in Khartoum, the same day and same time that Niger and Ghana square off in a West African derby at Wad Medani.
The Warriors will automatically qualify with a win against South Africa, in their last game, with a victory by a two-goal margin providing them a ticket irrespective of what happens in the other match.
The Warriors can draw against South Africa, and qualify, provided the game between Ghana and Niger also ends in a draw or Ghana win that match.
The Warriors can also lose, and probably still qualify, depending on the number of goals they score in their losing cause and if Ghana beat Niger in the final game.
Although they anchor the Group B standings, the Black Stars are not yet out because a 1-0 win in their last match against Niger and coupled with a Warriors’ loss against South Africa will leave Zimbabwe, Ghana and Niger on three points.
Goal difference will then come into play and a 1-0 win for Ghana and a 0-1 defeat for Zimbabwe will see the Black Stars going through.
South Africa are top but they have not yet qualified as a defeat to Zimbabwe, say 2-0, and a big win for Niger against Ghana could see Simon Ngomane’s troops bowing out.
But the Warriors are not keen on having to take out calculators and work on permutations, they just want to seal their qualification by beating the South Africans.
Warriors assistant coach Darlington Dodo said the prospects of making history had also been a huge motivating factor for his team.
“It is something that we have been talking about a lot in our camp and Madinda and I have been telling the players that this is chance for them to make history.
“We have told them that the scouts normally take the knock-out games more seriously than the group matches so if we go to the quarter-finals and beyond, more scouts will watch them.
“I think we can achieve it and judging from the players’ response against Ghana we can do it,” Dodo said.
No Warriors’ side has ever qualified for the knock-out stages of a major Pan-African tournament like CHAN or the African Cup of Nations.
In their previous appearances at the Nations Cup, in the 2004 competition in Tunisia under Sunday Chidzambwa and the 2006 edition in Egypt under Charles Mhlauri, the Warriors could not go beyond the group stages.
It was a similar tale at the inaugural CHAN tournament in Cote d’Ivoire two years ago where Chidzambwa’s men finished unbeaten but bowed out at the group stage after managing three draws against Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo and Libya.
Now after dispatching Ghana, the Warriors are relishing the opportunity of possibly beating South Africa and advancing to the last eight.
The Warriors are not even intimidated by the South Africans’ 100 percent reco- rd.
“South Africa are a good team. They have done well to get six points, they obviously have the advantage when compared to other teams.
“Their chief striker Myron Shongwe (with three goals to his credit) is someone we have to watch out for and we also have to keep an eye on where the supply has been coming from and cut that supply line for most of his goals.
“But I don’t think it will be an uphill task against them and we have the arsenal to achieve our desired result,” Dodo said.
The Gunners coach said they were also relishing a chance to play at the Al Hilal Stadium where Warriors international Edward Sadomba is hero-worshipped.
“I have heard that the pitch there is international standard and that suits us better because we have youngsters who are keen and have the zeal to keep the ball rather than run after it and South Africa also play a similar type of game.
“The Al Hilal supporters have also promised to make us feel at home which should be good for us,” Dodo said.
After their road trip from Wad Medani, the Warriors resolved to rest on their arrival in Khartoum but they will be back to business this morning when they train at a local sports club before having a feel of the match venue tomorrow morning.
The Warriors are also hoping to welcome back the striking duo of CAPS United’s Clive Kawinga and FC Platinum’s Charles Sibanda who sat out the Ghana game because of thigh and knee injuries sustained in the match against Niger.
Dodo said they would assess the two players tomorrow, but they had received indications from team doctor Nick Munyo-nga that the pair was on the mend.

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