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Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
UGANDA Cranes coach Milutin “Micho’’ Sredejovic has backed the Warriors to be the surprise packages of the 2017 African Cup of Nations despite Callisto Pasuwa’s men being the lowest ranked team among the finalists for the tournament in Gabon.

The 31st African Cup of Nations will run from January 14 to February 5 at four venues across three cities in Gabon, the capital Libreville, Franceville and Port Gentil.

As they prepare to go into the hat for the October 19 Nations Cup draw in Gabon, the Warriors already have the underdog tag hanging over them on the basis that they are the lowest ranked team among the 16 finalists.

Zimbabwe have been to the Nations Cup jamboree twice in 2004 in Tunisia and in Egypt two years later with Sunday Chidzambwa and Charles Mhlauri guiding them in those respective tournaments.

The Warriors, now under Pasuwa, will be hoping for “third time lucky’’ when they take a crack at the competition that will be returning to Libreville two years after Gabon co-hosted the showcase with Equatorial Guinea.

Despite having been one of the “early birds’’ in terms of securing their ticket to the Nations Cup finals, the Warriors’ fall from grace in the last few years has seen them tumble out of the top 100 on the FIFA World rankings and subsequently drop from the top 30 teams on the continent.

Zimbabwe are currently rated number 33 on the African rankings, 110 in the World, having moved two places up on the August rankings.

The Warriors, however, received the backing of one of the coaches with a lot of experience in African football — Micho — whose Uganda Cranes are making a return to the continental soccer showpiece 38 years on.

Micho yesterday reckoned that the Warriors would be the tournament’s surprise packages, arguing that he has observed some qualities about the only southern African nation to make it to the Nations Cup jamboree, to be convinced that they will not be in Gabon to just make up the numbers.

The Serbian said he had been following Zimbabwean players for a long time and believes the Warriors have the right balance to make an impact at the Nations Cup.

“I have known Warriors players for years since the present group came onto the football scene.

“I have followed work done by my colleague Callisto Pasuwa and he did amazing work to make individual qualities of Zimbabwean players for the team and for the nation.

“Credit to the players that have produced performances that delivered qualification and my special appreciation also goes to the Zimbabwean football stakeholders and team supporters who supported the team to achieve qualification safe and dry.

“Zimbabwe has a balanced team with all departments covered properly with sharp attackers that can unlock any defence and I predict that Zimbabwe will be a big AFCON surprise,’’ Micho said.

Micho also felt that any side with the attacking qualities of such players like Knowledge Musona, Khama Billiat and the on-fire Tendai Ndoro deserve to be respected.

The Cranes mentor, who has also previously taken charge of Orlando Pirates in South Africa and Al Hilal in Sudan, said the performances of Zimbabwean players for their respective clubs was testimony that the Warriors could not be underestimated at the Nations Cup.

“Players are talking with their performances. Look at Khama in Sundowns in the Champions League, or last night Tendai Ndoro in Cape Town, they talk with their football performance what I think of them.

“They have all it takes to be a big surprise at AFCON, a great country and great individuals with a chance to make a great team. Khama is a master and Zimbabwe has attacking musketeers,’’ Micho said.

Ndoro, who has been off to a blistering start in the ABSA 2016-17 season, grabbed a quick-fire brace on Tuesday night as Orlando Pirates overcame Ajax Cape Town to take his league tally to five in two games.

The Warriors forward received plaudits from his Buccaneers coach Muhsin Ertugral after the match with the Ajax Cape Town.

Ertugral labelled Ndoro a “star player” following the striker’s match-winning brace against Ajax Cape Town.

Ndoro fired Bucs to a 2-1 victory at Cape Town Stadium on Tuesday night, having also scored a hat-trick in the season-opener with Golden Arrows on August 24.

The Warriors international is three goals clear of Ajax’s Nathan Paulse and injured Chippa United hitman Rhulani Manzini at the top of the Absa Premiership scoring charts.

Ertugral said: “Tendai for me is a star player. You get these special characters and you have to treat these types of players differently. He has that spark in front of goal . . . but for me the biggest problem was that he played for Zimbabwe and only arrived back on Thursday, so he was very tired.

“But he has that sense of when to go and when to stay and when he gets into a one-versus-one situation in front of goal, he’s deadly and understands the lines of opponents very well. We work on patterns in training according to his movements and how he’d like to receive the ball and he’s getting better and better with that — he’s very quick in executing that. When it comes to one-versus-one, he always scores and I’m very pleased to have a player like that.”

Ertugral was, however, less impressed with the log leaders’ overall performance against the Urban Warriors.

Meanwhile, Highlands Park coach Allan Freese was impressed that his Zimbabwean goalkeeper Tapuwa Kapini saved two out of three penalties in a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Baroka FC on Tuesday night.

Another Zimbabwean player Marshall Munetsi beat Kapini from the spot six minutes in, but failed at a second attempt shortly after Collins Mbesuma equalised on debut at Makhulong Stadium.

Fellow new signing Charlton Mashumba, also from Zimbabwe, then fired Highlands ahead 12 minutes after the break in Tembisa.

Bakgaga skipper Olaleng Shaku had a chance to draw level when referee Victor Gomes awarded another penalty, but he was unable to get the better of Kapini.

“The boys were excited to play. It was a long pre-season for us and we are happy that we played,” Freese said after the promoted club’s first game of the season in the Absa Premiership.

“I’m happy that we played at home and we got the three points. But I think Tapuwa Kapini was Man-of-the-Match. With three penalties, he saved two, very good.

“I think we used our game plan correctly. We came back well and if you look at the last couple of minutes, we started to dominate which is good at home.

“So I’m quite happy for the boys that we got a win after our first game that we played.”

Freese, according to reports from South Africa, refused to discuss Gomes’ handling of the league tie.

“We said to the players, it is at home and let’s go and do the business and look at how many people came to watch you. If you want them week-in and week-out, you need to win at home.

“I’m happy that we got the result. But it took us long for us to play. The first penalty in the first five minutes put us on the back foot and the players showed character to equalise and we scored a winner.”