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Petros Kausiyo in WINDHOEK, Namibia
ZIMBABWE coach Callisto Pasuwa has challenged his troops to play with composure in front of goal as the Warriors face pointless Seychelles needing a massive win in their final COSAFA Castle Cup group game in order to keep alive their slim hopes of remaining in the tournament.

The Warriors will face bottom of the table Seychelles at the Sam Nujoma Stadium while another Group A game will pit joint leaders Swaziland and Madagascar across town at the Independence Stadium.

Both matches will kick off simultaneously at 5pm Zimbabwean time.

But it is the Warriors who really have all to do to try and salvage a campaign that went horribly wrong on Monday night when they failed to find their range when being restricted to a 0-0 draw despite a dominant display over Madagascar at the same venue.

As he took his charges through a recovery session, Pasuwa revealed yesterday that one of his main tasks today would be to psyche his players to quickly put behind them the huge disappointment that followed their failure to win against Madagascar.

Pasuwa remained defiant that they could still get it right tonight and even power to a massive win.

In drawing against Madagascar the Warriors surrendered their fate to other teams in the group, something which the coach admitted he had not anticipated when they arrived in Windhoek to take another crack on a record fifth COSAFA Castle Cup title.

Sihlangu, who have brought their African Cup of Nations squad to this competition, soared to the top of the log after a crushing 4-0 victory over Seychelles on Monday.

The win, coupled with a 0-0 draw between Zimbabwe and Madagascar, means Swaziland took over pole position on goal-difference from the Malagasy.

In scenes similar to their African Nations Championships campaign in Rwanda in January, Zimbabwe had a glut of chances to bury Madagascar, but their misfiring strike-force, for whom Obadiah Tarumbwa and Charlton Mashumba were the chief culprits, could not find a vital goal.

That outcome leaves their qualification for the quarter-finals hanging by a thread going into tonight’s final round of group matches.

Pasuwa’s men would now need to beat Seychelles by five clear goals and hope Madagascar and Swaziland play to a draw in their final match if they are to reach the knockout stages, where 2013 champions Zambia are waiting in ambush.

“I think these young boys are simply lacking composure in front of goal. Their confidence seems to grow after scoring, but if they miss a chance or two they tend to drop their heads and it is something we are working hard on.

“Playing at a stage like this requires that you try to score when you get even a half chance.

“We thought we could use the COSAFA tournament to rectify the problems we detected at the CHAN, but I have noticed that a lot still needs to be done to perfect the art of converting our chances,’’ Pasuwa said.

The 44-year-old coach said he would not focus much on what will be happening in the other match between Swaziland and Madagascar.

“Our main worry is how to get that first goal against Seychelles and I am sure after that more goals will follow because if we get the first goal it will boost the confidence of the players.

“If we play the way we missed chances against Madagascar it means even with a goalkeeper from a boozers club, we could do the same so we have our final session this afternoon (yesterday) to try to perfect that,’’ Pasuwa said.

The coach also challenged his homegrown talent to prove their mettle and show that they also have the character to play tournament football.

“I need to see how these players can do in such tournaments, local players need to have the confidence to score and win matches and not for the country to wait for the foreign-based players only.

“It is no use checking how the other teams will be playing when you are not scoring for yourselves first because at the end of the day it will count for nothing. At the CHAN we were the most creative team in our group, but we ended up going home’’.

Pasuwa will, however, have to make do without the skipper Danny Phiri as the Chicken Inn combative midfielder failed to last the match against the Malagasy after receiving a nasty knock on his troublesome ankle.

Jomo Cosmos man Mashumba also remains a major doubt with a knee problem with Pasuwa now awaiting the verdict of the medical crew on the striker.