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Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor
THE Soccer Africa wise men gave their glowing verdict on Thursday night by describing the Warriors as a very dangerous, and efficient, outfit which is peaking at the very right time and could finally transform themselves into a powerful force at the AFCON finals this year.

Veteran South African sports journalist, Thomas Kwenaite, a serial award-winning football expert who is one of the pundits on the show, described this group of Warriors as one of the best national teams ever assembled in this country.

Sunday Chidzambwa’s men, who topped a group that featured DRC and Congo-Brazzaville with a two-point cushion, will be playing at their second straight Nations Cup finals in Egypt later this year, and their stunning 2-1 victory in Kinshasa was hailed by the pundits as proof these Warriors have come of age.

Inspirational performances by the team’s leading lights, captain Knowledge Musona and Khama Billiat, who scored all but one of the team’s nine goals in the 2019 AFCON qualifiers, with the skipper on target five times, was also hailed as exemplary by pundits of the Soccer Africa show.

The programme is SuperSport’s premier African football magazine show and features pundits from Nigeria, South Africa, Cote d’Ivoire and the DRC, as the regulars, while others are invited, now and again, to be part of the proceedings.

Soccer Africa is viewed by millions of football fans from across the continent every Thursday night.

The latest show was extended by 30 minutes, and ran for about one-and-half hours, as the pundits conducted a comprehensive review of the 2019 AFCON qualifiers which ended last weekend with the Warriors, Bafana Bafana, the Brave Warriors of Namibia and Angola’s Palancas Negras booking their places at the finals.

Madagascar had already sealed their place in Egypt before the final round of matches and will now be making their maiden appearance at the AFCON finals in  Egypt.

Nigerian footballer-turned-pastor, Idah Peterside, said he believes the Warriors could even go as far as the quarter-finals or the semi-finals of the 2019 AFCON finals, as long as the authorities ensured the issues which, sometimes, blight their preparations, were taken care of.

Veteran commentator, Mark Gleeson, who covered the Warriors 2-0 victory over Congo-Brazzaville live on television, said he was certain none of the teams which have qualified for this year’s Nations Cup finals would like to be paired against Chidzambwa’s men in Egypt.