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Oscar Machapa

Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter
IAN “Dibango” Gorowa has had a trying week, only getting his players yesterday for tomorrow’s African Nations Championship qualifier against Zambia at Rufaro, but the youthful gaffer was still putting up a brave face when he faced the local media. Gorowa knows that this is his biggest test, since he accepted the responsibility to come and coach the Warriors, and this feisty derby match against the Zambians has to be won for the sake of the fans.

But things haven’t gone according to plan with the original match, set for last Sunday at the same venue, being postponed after the referees failed to pitch up for the encounter.

Then Gorowa saw his calls for the midweek Premiership games to be postponed, to give him more time with the players in camp, being ignored.
But the coach was not interested in controversy yesterday and said he would rather discuss the big game tomorrow than the off-the-field distrations.

He has gone for experience and brought in former Swallows midfielder, Oscar Machapa, to add some strength to his squad.
Machapa has joined Harare giants Dynamos, following his return from the South Africa Premiership, and on Thursday featured in his first match for the Glamour Boys.

The Warriors regrouped yesterday and held a morning session at Gwanzura after which the gaffer declared that they were ready for the big tie — his biggest test since taking over as coach of the national team.

The team suffered a setback after leftback Augustine Mbara, who had a poor game for Dynamos on Thursday, was ruled out with a groin injury he picked during that game.

Also missing in action at yesterday’s workout was the duo of strikers Nelson Maziwisa and Simba Sithole.
The duo were in South Africa for trials with SuperSport and Amazulu respectively.

But by the time the team finished training, Maziwisa was reported to have arrived and already at the Zifa Village where the team is staying.
However, Gorowa quickly drafted Machapa as an addition to his defence.

He also ruled out Sithole, who was yet to join his teammates yesterday.
“Oscar will offer a lot more. He is versatile. He is now locally based and we will utilise the experience he has,” said Gorowa.

Machapa can play as the right back or on the right side of the midfield and is very good when the team is attacking.
Yesterday, Gorowa was not singing a chorus of complaints ahead of the match and rallied his players to actually stand up and be counted.

Despite all the confusion and problems that have rocked the team ahead of the match, forcing them to only have one training session, Dibango   said they were focussed on the job at hand.

Zimbabwe are seeking a healthy cushion before they travel for the return leg next weekend.
But since he took over the Warriors post, Gorowa has been saying that he had seen enough of Chipolopolo during the Cosafa Championship to convince him that on a good day they can be beaten.

“Obviously this week, we didn’t really train but the good thing is that the whole of last week, we trained so the players have to utilise what we did.
“We will go in there and the players know what they have to do. And, as a coach, l also have to adjust to these things,” said Gorowa.

The mentor says he will work around his squad and their fitness levels and assess which players should go into the first team tomorrow.
“Today (yesterday) we really didn’t train and just made a few players who didn’t play for the entire 90 minutes during the midweek games to train.

“We will see in our last session tomorrow morning (today) who is available.
“It is a crucial match and we are not approaching it with our heads down. We are actually confident and we can beat Zambia,” said Gorowa.

The new coach has never made it a secret that he wants to qualify for the CHAN finals in South Africa, in January, and lay a strong foundation as he begins his journey with the national team.

The Zambia national team was expected to arrive yesterday evening with nine home-based players, who played in France during a midweek international friendly tie against Senegal, expected to link with the rest of the team which was making the short flight from Lusaka.
Chipolopolo drew 1-1 with Senegal on Wednesday.

Dutch-based forward Jacob Mulenga, who has been linked with a move to the English Premiership, scored for the 2012 African Cup of Nations winners early into the match before Senegal equalised.

Zambia assistant coach Masauso Mwale, who remained behind in Lusaka with the rest of the home-based players, has declared war on the Warriors.

“The boys are all fired up, ready and in good spirits for the game,” he told The Post newspaper.
“There are no injury worries, so it is a fully fit squad. The coming of the others who went to France will also help boost the players’ morale. The mood in camp is that of a team eager to do battle.

“We need to be focused, disciplined and work hard for us to maintain our dominance over Zimbabwe. It is not going to be easy.
“Zimbabwe will want to avenge the Cosafa Cup final defeat, a thing that can also work to our advantage,” he said.

Mwale said it was unlikely that the players who were in France would be affected by fatigue.
The Zambian government has also availed seven luxury buses for soccer fans to travel to Harare and reports say that the supporters were just expected to pay US$10 each.

Last week, Chipolopolo fans also came in their numbers for the match which was later cancelled after the Cameroon referees failed to turn up on time.

The match officials have been in the capital since Tuesday this week, and passed out some time watching local league matches.