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Robson Sharuko

Senior Sports Editor

WHEN the Warriors eased into a third straight AFCON finals, for the first time in their history, it triggered another wave of grand expectations among their fans. 

Given they completed their campaign, with a game to spare, it’s probably understandable, why some of their fans have slipped into delirium. 

Some even now believe this is the Golden Generation, which will take them, to the Promised Land. Those fans are now not only demanding, but also believing that their boys could go beyond the group stages, of the AFCON finals, in Cameroon. 

Social media has been buzzing, with some of the fans suggesting this is the finest collection of Warriors, in history. 

Their coach, Zdravko Logarusic, has already been elevated into immortality. 

He is being dubbed the best foreign coach, to guide the Warriors, and has been catapulted into a position of greatness.  And, according to some fans, he is now being considered a better coach than Reinhard Fabisch. 

That he has won just one AFCON qualifier, against Botswana, and lost two and drawn one of the other three he has presided over, two against Algeria and one against Zambia, at home, has all been forgotten. 

Fabisch’s record of nine wins, five draws and only two defeats, in World Cup/AFCON qualifiers, between August 16, 1992 and October 10, 1993, is now being painted, as a picture of failure, for both the coach, and his Dream Team.

That they didn’t lose a group game, in the ’94 AFCON qualifiers, which featured a Zambian side, which would finish second, at the finals in Tunisia, and a Bafana Bafana team, which would be African champions, at the ’96 Nations Cup finals, is now being dismissed as a symbol of failure. 

That they didn’t lose a group game, in the initial ’94 World Cup qualifiers, which featured an Egyptian side, just coming from their first World Cup finals in 54 years, with the Dream Team winning four, and drawing six of their qualifiers, is also being dismissed as irrelevant. 

And, that they were just one of the last nine African teams standing, in the final battle for the three World Cup tickets, is also being dismissed as a non-event, by those who are dancing to the song, being played, by the current generation of Warriors. 

Even when others have argued that conditions have changed, with second place in the group now good enough to take a country to the expanded 24-team AFCON finals, this has seemingly fallen on deaf ears.

That there were only 10 slots, for the Dream Team to fight for, given the hosts and the defending champions were guaranteed qualification, in that 12-team Nations Cup finals, hasn’t helped to provide any justification that Fabisch, and his men, deserve some respect. 

In such times, even the most basic of questions, it seems, don’t matter:

How is it possible to compare a coach, in this case Fabisch, who presided over a 16 AFCON/World Cup qualifiers, winning nine, drawing five and losing two, with Loga, who only has four Nations Cup qualifiers, under his belt? 

How can a coach, who started his campaign, in both the World Cup and AFCON qualifiers, from day one, be compared with another one, who inherited a team, which already had four points, from two games, and added another four points, from four games? 

How can a coach, who took a team which had never qualified for the AFCON finals, and would not qualify again for another decade, be compared to another one, who inherited a side, which had qualified for four Nations Cup finals, including the last two, on the bounce?

Clearly, Loga is still at the infancy of his adventure and, probably, with more time and games, he could become better than Fabisch. 

But, in this game, immortality cannot be acquired from winning one, out of four, AFCON qualifiers. 

Maybe, a journey, back into time, when the Dream Team were in their formative years, before Fabisch arrived to take over, could help put things into perspective. 

Let’s take Botswana, the team Loga beat 1-0 in Francistown, last Thursday, to ensure his men sealed their place at the 2021 AFCON finals. 

Well, back in the early ‘90s, the Warriors went to Gaborone, for a friendly international against the Zebras, and thrashed them 7-0. 

Others can argue, the Zebras have improved, which is a fair argument, and this shows why our win against them last week, has more value, than the massacre in the early ‘90s. 

It could also be true that our quality, as a team, has also gone down, to a level where, despite the improvement by the Zebras, they are now able to match us, as they did in our home draw in Harare, and our narrow win, last week. 

But, if the Zebras have become such a very competitive team, to such an extent that beating them guarantees a coach immortality, why is it that, since beating Comoros 2-1, in Gaborone, on March 27, 2016, they have only won just one of their 14 AFCON qualifiers? 

That victory came in their 2-1 win over Zambia, in Gaborone, last November, with their record showing just two draws, including one against the Warriors in Harare, in the last qualifiers, and 11 defeats, during that five-year period. 

In nine of those games, these Zebras failed to score, including five at home and, not even once, in that five-year period, did they score more than a goal, in their AFCON qualifiers. 

What about Chipolopolo? 

Well, their 2-0 win against us on Monday was their first away victory, in the AFCON qualifiers, in six years, their last one having come against Kenya, in Nairobi, in September 2015. 

In the 2017/2019/2021 AFCON qualifiers, the Zambians have played 18 qualifiers, won just five, against Zimbabwe, Botswana, Kenya, Guinea Bissau and Namibia, drawn six, lost seven and have not been to the AFCON finals, in each of those campaigns.

 They were beaten back-to-back in the 2019 Nations Cup qualifiers by Mozambique and lost two, and drawn one, of their four battles against Guinea Bissau. 

And, there is something else, if Benin either draw, or beat Sierra Leone, in their final Group L qualifier, which will be completed in June, the Warriors will go to Cameroon, as the team with the least number of points, in the qualifiers. 

Our eight points are half the number which Tunisia accrued (16), in their qualifiers, and even Malawi, who are returning to the AFCON finals, for the first time, since 2010, had more points (10), than us. 

And, to that list, add Comoros, who will be making their debut, with nine points, in a group that featured record African champions Egypt.