Can Warriors Do It?

international revival mission if they overcome South Africa and qualify for the quarter-finals of the African Nations Champion-ships here tomorrow night.
The Southern African derby, manufactured on the banks of the Limpopo River, will be delivered before an expected big crowd at the Al Hilal Stadium at 7pm.
The Warriors also take to the battlefield knowing that they stand on threshold of making history by becoming the first senior team to qualify to the second round of a major knock-out tournament on the continent.
Of course, the Warriors have been regional soccer kings winning the Cosafa Cup with Misheck and Sunday Chidzambwa as well as Charles Mhlauri.
But the CHAN tournament is a bigger competition in profile and encompasses teams from all the continent’s regions.
Tomorrow night’s game is also pregnant with a number of sub-plots including the rivalry between Zimbabwe and South Africa, the Edward Sadomba factor, the history that beckons for this band of home-based Warriors and a chance for Madinda to silence his critics and achieve something with the national team.
Sadomba, who plays for Sudanese giants Al Hilal, has been a huge motivational factor for the Warriors and has helped make their stay in this vast country easier, especially some of the rookies in the squad.
Madinda, however, believes that the significance of the showdown with South  Africa and the opportunity to qualify is that it will help “restore the dignity of the Zimbabwean game’’.
The Warriors have over the years plunged outside of the top 100 on the Fifa world rankings and are no longer among the continent’s top 20 where they used to be a regular feature.
Controversial tours to Asia did not help the Warriors cause either. Madinda believes that a triumph for the Warriors at this tournament will, however, go a long way in restoring their credibility on the international stage.
“History is not what we are really looking at, we are looking at the magnitude of the game itself and taking cognisance of the fact that South Africa are our neighbours and matches between the two countries have always been thrillers.
“They are not at the top of the group by luck and to be at the top shows how much their football has improved.
“But we are here to restore our dignity and we want to play the game that we have always wanted to play . . . a game that Zimbabwean football has been known for and history will make itself but that should not put under pressure,’’ Madinda said.
The Black Mambas technical adviser also refused to think of South Africa as the surprise packages of the group and said he would also not be too bothered about the other Group B game pitting Ghana against Niger.
“I want to look less at what other nations are doing and look at our mission which is a revival mission to put Zimbabwe football back on the international map’’.
Madinda said he was also not worried about the composition of the South African team which could not draw on some of the best players from their Absa Premiership and national Division One when they came here.
“Put in 15 dogs we will do what we are supposed to do, put in 11 cats we will still do the same job that we are supposed to do . . . so I am saying we are clear about our set objectives so it is not about who is representing South Africa because it is still South Africa’’.
Madinda who is set to have Clive Kawinga available for selection again, also hinted that he was unlikely to tinker much with the team that beat Ghana 1-0 onWednesday via Archieford Gutu’s header 20 minutes from time.
“History has it that you do not change a winning team except for injuries and other forced changes like sickness. But I have always said we plan according to the opponents and obviously tactics will be different because this is now South Africa, Ghana and Niger are now history,’’ Madinda said.
The Warriors caretaker coach has also been closely following South Africa’s progress and would probably know that his charges would need to keep an eye on such players like gangly AmaZulu, striker Myron Shongwe, winger Already Mkwanazi, Collen Zimba and Leonard Shabangu.
But Madinda said he would not be drawn into discussing much about his opponents and how they had fared.
“I cannot pre-empt what I have seen of them because that is the weapon we will  try to use to conquer them, we have a game plan for them and likewise they have been following us and they will come with a game plan for us.
“We have our final preparation tomorrow, we will get a final report on the injuries from Doctor Munyonga but Clive has trained although he was complaining of something different from his thigh injury but Charles Sibanda remained outside training today which is an indication that the Soccer Star might not be in this game,’’ Madinda said.
Skipper Washington Arubi and his Warriors go into the battle against South Africa bubbling with confidence following their victory over Ghana.
But, after surprising even themselves, coach Simon Ngomane and his men will arrive for their showdown with Zimbabwe eager to complete a remarkable run.
Ngomane has made it clear that they are proud of their achievements at the CHAN tournament so far.
There is hardly any media from South Africa here to witness the exploits of this  exciting side but a delighted Ngomane told the press covering this tournament after their second win that:
“This was a proud moment for the country and the boys have been great ambassadors for their nation in this tournament”.
Ngomane also lauded Caf for the creation of this tournament which he described as “a wonderful platform for developing football on the continent”.
Asked how his team seemed to come alive in the second half in which they have scored their goals in the second half, Ngomane replied “the best teacher of the game is that game itself. We observe in the first half and adapt our play to that afterwards.”
He was, however, quick to point that so far it has worked but in football things don’t always go your way, “Maybe we have been lucky as well but I believe you create your own luck by the way you play’’.
They will be hoping to ride on that luck against the Warriors again tomorrow night.
While the Warriors will be doing battle with South Africa they will also be keen to know the proceedings of the West African derby clash between winless Ghana and debutants Niger at Wad Medani.
Ghana have been reeling from their two successive defeats by South Africa and Zimbabwe which have left them needing to move mountains in order to squeeze through to the last eight as a simple 1-0 win over Niger may not prove enough to send them through.
Black Stars skipper Emmanuel Clottey was on Thursday night left apologising to the team’s fans after their defeat by Zimbabwe which was the second for the inaugural CHAN runners-up in Cote d’ Ivoire two years ago.
In fact Ghana also need more than just a win against Niger tomorrow, they will also require a lot of luck as their fate is no longer in their hands.
Clottey is aware of that and is hopeful they could atone themselves with a victory tomorrow.
“We apologise for our bad performance, we did not expect to play like this, we don’t know what happened” said a sombre looking Clottey.
His coach Hebert Addo, who sat next to him at the post match press conference, attributed the defeat to “loss of concentration at a crucial time”.
“We selected the best players from our local league in Ghana and we planned to reach the final but now the odds of that happening are one in a million,’’ Addo said.
The Ghana coach also defended his 4-4-2 system which they employed first and  seemed to be working well in the first half but just like against South Africa they faltered in the second period and allowed the Warriors driven by the vision and close ball control of Gutu to open them up.
With the Black Stars keen to avoid a third defeat something quite uncharacteristic of them, Clottey insisted they would bounce back and redeem themselves against Niger
“We want to correct our mistakes and we have one more chance to do that” Clottey said
Ghana’s former Warriors coach Ben Kouffie has been following the Black Stars’ games in Wad Medani and will just like Addo and Clottey be hoping that their team will not complete a miserable run by losing their third game.
Hosts Sudan have fully utilised home advantage, becoming the first team to qualify after toping Group A with identical 1-0 wins over Gabon and winless Uganda with striker Careca Eltaib Mudather roving the winners in both games.
Sudan are likely to be joined in the quarter-finals by Algeria who have four points while Uganda are out of the competition as they can only finish with three points if they win their last game against Gabon.