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Bothwell Mahlengwe
WE went into last weekend’s CHAN qualifier against Namibia as the 2017 COSAFA Castle Cup champions, our tails were up and a victory for our Warriors was written all over the wall.

Punters on one of my WhatsApp group predicted a score line of more than 2.5 goals without reply for the away team.

But there are no guarantees in life and our defeat appears to have wreaked havoc in Sunday Chidzambwa’s pool of confidence and we have seen an unexpected number of changes being made.

A man hailed as a king just a few days ago is now facing the possibility of being heavily criticised should things not go according to plan on Sunday.

Even the media, which was awash with the Warriors’ COSAFA victory stories, appears to have turned its back on our boys after the defeat in Windhoek and The Herald edition on Tuesday, just 48 hours after the game, didn’t have anything on our national team.

One thing that I learnt from the last weekend’s game in Namibia is the power of supporters.

The Brave Warriors called for support and the Namibians responded with more than 10 000 fans coming to cheer their team.

I think the COSAFA victory got into our heads and instilled in us an ugly and false sense of invincibility.

In such matches getting an away goal is very important and that we didn’t get one made our lives difficult.

We really need to change our mind-set and give the second leg match on Sunday the respect and importance it deserves.

I believe our boys will do it but it’s no longer going to be a stroll in the park.

The preparations have been good again, thanks to the benevolence of Walter Magaya and his PHD family, and we need to qualify for the CHAN finals given our ban from the 2018 World Cup.

CHAN provides a stage for us to compare the level of our best home-based stars and others and also the level of the competitiveness of our Premiership and it also provides the players with another platform to impress European scouts.

Remember Ovidy Karuru in 2009?

The boys need our support just like the Namibians who also rode on their fans’ support.

The loss in Windhoek might also be a blessing in disguise for it has set up the stage for an all-out attacking game given the Namibians need an away goal and the Warriors need at least two goals.

The game has all the ingredients for an entertaining match and talents and catch the eye of European clubs or just better remunerating African clubs.

My appeal to you is that let us turn the stadium into a sea of gold and green where every Zimbabwean is donning the Warriors colours.

In my wildest dreams, I see ZIFA outdoing themselves and stationing outlets at the stadium for the Warriors replica jerseys sales.

Can there be a better stage this year for them to put something into their dry coffers?

I even have better dreams, wild dreams of the corporate world, the likes of Econet, NetOne, Telecel, Delta, CBZ, FBC, Nyaradzo, Doves, Moonlight, the platinum mining companies, the gold mining companies and many others partnering with supporters and providing funds for supporters to get our gold and/or green jerseys.

Who wouldn’t want to be associated with the COSAFA champions in their quest to extend their dominance beyond southern Africa?

If there’s a game where we need to create a big atmosphere to unsettle our opponents, then this is the one.

If we do it, we will prevail, mark my words.

•  Bothwell Mahlengwe is a banker and former Premiership footballer and can be contacted, for feedback, on the email — [email protected]