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Fungai Muderere Sports Reporter
Zimbabwe 1-1 Angola
THE YOUNG Warriors dropped two crucial points after they were held to a draw by Angola in their third Group A African Union Sports Council Region 5 Games tie that was played at Barbourfields Stadium yesterday. With Malawi beating Mozambique 2-1 in a match that was played at Luveve Stadium yesterday to go on top of the table with six points, Zimbabwe slipped to position two with five points.
After a rain soaked first half which failed to produce goals, Angola found the target in the 49th minute courtesy of a lovely Cristofer Mbuini curling free kick from outside the box that beat a diving Kelvin Shangiwa, who was in goal for Zimbabwe, all systems out.
Thomas Kadyaridzire levelled matters for the tournament hosts in the 79th minute when he left a sea of Angolan defenders for dead before unleashing a thunderbolt to beat towering goalkeeper Sebastiao Coio.
“Malawi are now on top of the log. Our next game against them (Malawi) is now a must- win. We’re in a tight situation. We should have finished the job today (yesterday) by beating Angola.
“We’re now looking for one result against Malawi, which is a win,” said Young Warriors head coach Tafadzwa Mashiri, bemoaning some tactical changes they were compelled to make owing to player suspensions and injuries.
Angola remained on position three after gaining the point that took their total to four.
Angola’s goal came from the set piece after Young Warriors’ central defender Trevor Zidoro brought down dribbling wizard Vladimir Eston Antonio. Mbuini took responsibility with a beauty that thrust Angola into the lead.
After getting the goal, Angola began to dictate the pace, keeping the Young Warriors defence busy and it was not long that the hosts conceded another foul outside the 18 yard box. Again Zidoro was the culprit.
However, the free kick, which was again taken by Mbuini, did not yield anything.
Thereafter, Angola made some changes bringing in Miguel Paulo for Zinadine Zidane Catraio in the 63rd minute and Antonio for Isner Joao in the 69th minute after Zimbabwe had introduced bustling Learnon Bvochora for Ishmael Munsaka in the 66th minute.
Bvochora upped the tempo of the game for the Young Warriors as he kept asking a lot of questions from the Angolan defence courtesy of ball artistry and wizardry.
After braving the pounding rains, in the 75th minute the home crowd which included Young Mighty Warriors players and coaches went up on their feet to celebrate what seemed like a goal when Bvochora rose majestically to nod a Leslie Lunga cross from the left which unfortunately missed the target by a whisker. Four minutes later, the Young Warriors were rewarded with a goal.
This was after hard running Kadyaridzire had received a long searching pass from the centre and he coolly obliged by holding the ball and faced his opponents whom he dribbled past before he opened fire from just outside the box.
As Zimbabwe kept on piling pressure in search of that elusive second goal, against the run of play they survived a last minute scare when a well taken Mbuini shot from a distance was saved by an alert Shangiwa.
Angola head coach Simao Jose said they will have to work harder to beat Swaziland.
“I think Zimbabwe is a good team. We did our best to win but we couldn’t. Zimbabwe did well although they wasted a lot of scoring opportunities. Our focus is now on our next game which we must work hard to win,” said Jose.
Group A table
P W D L F A GD PTS
Malawi 2 2 0 0 3 1 2 6
Zimbabwe 3 1 2 0 5 3 2 5
Angola 3 1 1 1 3 2 1 4
Mozambique 4 1 1 2 4 6 -2 4
Swaziland 2 0 0 2 2 5 -3 0
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