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Tadious Manyepo in FRANCISTOWN, Botswana

IT took Warriors coach, Zdravko Logarusic, exactly six games, 540 minutes, to finally win a match in charge of Zimbabwe.

In those six matches Loga, who took over in January last year, scored only four goals and conceded eight.

He had only kept a clean sheet once, in a low-profile friendly against Malawi, in his first match in charge.

He hadn’t led, even once, in all those matches.

The Croat hasn’t played the same first XI, in any two successive games.

In fact, he doesn’t even have a First XI.

But, after his heroics in Botswana on Thursday night, all that doesn’t matter now.

He has written his own piece of history, as the first foreign coach, to take the Warriors to the AFCON finals.

When it mattered most, Loga — without nine of his regular players due to Covid-19 logistical complications and injuries — employed a traditional 4-4-2 structure in the AFCON qualifier against Botswana.

He knew a win for his charges, coupled with a loss or draw for Zambia against Algeria, would help him secure a place at the next Nations Cup finals, in Cameroon next year.

The hosts employed every tactic to try and distract the focus of the Warriors.

This included the inexplicable delay in availing the visitors’ Covid-19 results, seven hours, after the tests had been carried out.

But Loga, who right from the first whistle was running up and down the technical area, found the formula to deal with all that.

Perfect Chikwende, on his debut, scored the all-important goal, in the first-half.

While the players celebrated wildly after the final whistle, Loga stood still, and appeared very tense.

He even refused to take his supper, as he followed the Zambia versus Algeria match, at the National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka.

“I can’t eat or celebrate before the match between Zambia and Algeria ends. Let me follow it to the end,” said Loga, at the team hotel.

As Chipolopolo’s wonderkid Patson Daka found the net from the penalty spot, to tie the score at 3-3, Loga buried his head into his hands.

Even his players, who were streaming the game live in the same room, where the whole delegation was, went into a panic mode.

Only defender, Teenage Hadebe, kept on telling the team that if ever there was going to be a goal in this match, it would be scored by Algeria, not Zambia.

The final whistle was greeted with wild celebrations by the Zimbabweans.

Botswana’s curfew time starts at 8pm and residents, staying at the nearby flats, should have defied those regulations, trying to figure out what was happening at the hotel.

Loga finally had his food.

“I am on cloud nine. I had gone for six games without winning and it was becoming frustrating.

“But, I knew when I will eventually win, the victory will be massive, not in terms of scoreline, but in terms of significance.

“Things have never been ideal for me so to speak.

“When I was appointed (as Zimbabwe coach), Covid-19 came upon the world and the disturbances that followed didn’t help any matters.

“At the CHAN tournament in January, I took with me players who had only five training sessions together and, the fact that they had gone for over 13 months without playing any football, weighed down upon us.

“Now, we had more than nine key players failing to join us.

“But the key factor in football has always been one – adaptation.’’

He said, in times of crisis, a coach should lead.

“A coach should be flexible and I am happy the boys I threw into the fray came to the party and stepped up in a remarkable manner.

“To become the first foreign coach, to take this great nation to the AFCON finals, is something I am going to cherish forever.

“I am really impressed.”

Zimbabwe will host Zambia on Monday, in their final qualifier, at the National Sports Stadium.

Loga also joined Charles Mhlauri, and Callisto Pasuwa, in taking the Warriors to the Nations Cup, with a game to spare.

Now, his next mission is to become the first coach, to lead the Warriors out of the group phase, of the AFCON finals.

If he can do that, then his legacy will be secure.

And, of course, there is also the issue of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, which are on the horizon.