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POWER PLAY . . . Zimbabwe striker Simba Sithole (right) vies for the ball with Moroccan defender Oulhaj Mohamed during yesterday’s CHAN Group B opener at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa. — Laduma

From Lawrence Moyo in CAPE TOWN, South Africa
POOR finishing denied the Warriors a deserved three points as their match with debutants Morocco produced the first goalless draw of the African Nations Championship at Athlone Stadium here yesterday. While the opening two matches on Saturday produced first half goals, Zimbabwe and Morocco failed to find the target in a match the Warriors had better chances, including a double effort in the 64th minute when Simba Sithole hit the post, while Ali Sadiki’s follow-up shot went straight to the goalkeeper.

At that stage, only coach Ian Gorowa was composed as his colleagues on the bench, especially Gift Muzadzi and Sharif Mussa were already up on their feet and virtually celebrating.

However, FC Platinum hitman Donald Ngoma’s two first-half misses will stand out as the Warriors prepare for Thursday’s match against Uganda, which is now a must-win if Zimbabwe are to go beyond the opening round on their third attempt.

The story could have been different had FC Platinum hitman Ngoma attacked the ball on two occasions when he found himself unmarked in front of a yawning goal.

Zimbabwe won their third corner in the 40th minute and the cross from the right found the towering Ngoma unmarked in front of goal, but his effort only troubled the cameramen who had to adjust quickly and follow the ball behind the advertising boards.
The truth is he was hit by the ball.

It was the same story three minutes later when Dynamos striker Simba Sithole did well on the right and sent in a good cross which found Ngoma with the advantage in front of goal, but the usually reliable striker was again hit by the ball and it never troubled the badly exposed Moroccan goalkeeper.

They were the two bad misses that could have settled this encounter.
While Zimbabwe are ever present at the tournament, popularly known as Chan, Morocco are taking part at the finals for the first time.
But with Zimbabwean teams having a history of melting against North African opposition, the Warriors were aggressive yesterday and at times even arrogant.

It was not one of those dull draws, there was enough action to keep the small crowd on its feet and the other group members Uganda and Burkina Faso, who watched the game from the terraces, were left shivering ahead of Thursday’s matches.

Watched by Caf president Issa Hayatou, Morocco had a confident start and won four corner kicks before Zimbabwe while their players’ tumbling at the slightest of touches meant that the Warriors only led on fouls committed.

There was trouble for the Warriors in the seventh minute when Ali Sadiki went back to help out his defenders and only succeeded in giving away a dangerous free-kick which produced the first corner of the game.

The initial effort from the dead ball was very poor as Erraki Issam hit it straight at the Warriors’ two-man wall but his follow-up from the rebound was ferocious and goalkeeper George Chigova had to be at his best to tip it over the bar.

While the Warriors grew in confidence as the half wore on, Morocco still had more to offer in attack and had won their fourth corner in the 26th minute and a tackle by Danny Phiri in the 28th minute put the foul scoreline 8-1 in favour of Zimbabwe.

However, despite the Warriors committing fouls regularly, the first of only two yellow cards in the game went to Morocco’s Issam for a foul on Ngoma.

When the Warriors won their first corner in the 35th minute, their offensive play got more aggressive and they won three corner kicks in succession with Ngoma’s glaring misses part of the action during this period of sustained pressure.

Morocco almost snatched an injury time lead but Issam’s free-kick narrowly missed the target while Chigova had to be treated as he picked a knock while diving to try and keep the effort out.

Gorowa and his lieutenants turned to Soccer Star of the Year Tawanda Muparati at the start of the second half with the Dynamos vice-captain replacing Pasca Manhanga.

But there was no change of fortunes for the Warriors who used all their substitutes with Nelson Maziwisa replacing Ngoma and Charles Sibanda coming in for Simba Sithole later on.

The desired and deserved goal never came and now the coaches will have to remind their strikers that there won’t be many clear cut chances at this level of the game, which means every opportunity counts.

In the end, statistics showed that Morocco had more of the ball with a 56-44 percent advantage in ball possession while shots at goal were 15-14 for the North Africans whom also had a 9-8 margin in corner kicks.

Fouls committed were 21-7 in favour of Zimbabwe while bookings were one each as Phiri earned a yellow card in the 76th minute.

Teams
Zimbabwe: G. Chigova, H. Zvirekwi, E. Chipeta, P. Jaure,M. Ncube, D. Ngoma, P. Manhanga, D. Phiri, K. Mahachi, S. Sithole, A. Sadiki
Subs: T. Muparati ( for P. Manhanga, 46th min),  N. Maziwisa (for D. Ngoma, 72nd minute), C. Sibanda (for S. Sithole, 82n2 min)

Morocco: L. Nadir, A. Abderrahim, A. Mohamed, O. Mohamed, H. El Zakaria, M. Mohsine, E. Issam, A. Al Anas, B. El Ebrahim, K. El Walid, M. Iajour
Subs:  R. Abdessamad (for K. El Walid, 75th minute), Q. El Abdelkebir (for B. El Brahim, 86th min)