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Robson Sharuko
Senior Sports Editor
IT’S probably Zimbabwe’s finest AFCON finals victory and, 15 years after their giant-killing act, the Warriors need to evoke the Spirit of 2006, to revive a faltering 2022 World Cup campaign.
Norman Mapeza and his troops are in Ghana, where they need a rare win on the road, to breathe life into a World Cup campaign, which started in the worst way possible.
With just a point, from their first two games, the Warriors find themselves bottom of their group, with a tough away battle against the Black Stars on Saturday, their next assignment.
Mapeza was recruited to salvage the campaign, after the hapless Zdravo Logarusic, who became the first Warriors coach in 75 years to win just one game in 14 matches, was finally sacked.
A shock 0-1 defeat in Ethiopia finally convinced the stubborn and reluctant, ZIFA leadership that their experiment with the Croatian coach was doomed.
Statistics don’t appear to be fighting in Mapeza’s corner given the Warriors are yet to win a World Cup group game in 13 years since Gilbert Mushangazhike struck a brace on June 8, 2008, in a 2-0 victory over Namibia, at Rufaro. The Warriors have also not won a World Cup qualifier, away from home, in 17 years. Their last victory on the road in this tournament came when they beat Rwanda 2-0 on July 2004, with captain Peter Ndlovu and Tinashe Nengomasha on target, in Kigali.
Since that victory, the Warriors have played 10 World Cup qualifiers away from home, losing seven, including to one of the game’s weakest sides, Somalia, and drawing three matches.
But, the identity of their next opponents, four-time African champions Ghana, should also provide them with a rainbow of hope, to produce another giant-killing act.
After all, it was against the same opponents, 15 years ago, when the Warriors produced their finest show, at the AFCON finals, which should have reaped them more dividends than the 2-1 victory margin.
It’s the closest Zimbabwe have come, to reach the quarter-finals, of the Nations Cup.
Only an effort from Joel Luphahla, which was disallowed under a cloud of controversy, became the difference between playing in the quarter-finals, and returning home, after the group stages.
Had that effort stood, and given the Warriors a 3-0 lead, it’s unlikely the Black Stars would have kept attacking, in search of a consolation goal.
And, Charles Mhlauri, and his men would have qualified for the quarter-finals.
They would have ended with three points, the same as Ghana and Senegal, and six points adrift of runaway group winners, Nigeria.
In the end, a 2-1 victory over the 2006 World Cup-bound Black Stars, courtesy of goals from Cephas Chimedza and Benjani Mwaruwari, in Ismailia, was not enough to take them into the last eight.
For the Warriors Class of 2021, evoking that Spirit of 2006, might be just what they need, to revive their World Cup campaign, with a victory in Ghana, on Saturday.
It was a gold-standard performance, the kind which the Warriors need on Saturday, to stand a chance of being in the running, for a place in Qatar, when the second round of the group qualifiers, get underway, next week.
The other heroes of that sensational victory, over the Black Stars, were Tapiwa Kapini, Zvenyika Makonese, James Matola, Tinashe Nengomasha, Esrom Nyandoro, Edelbert Dinha, Peter Ndlovu and Gilbert Mushangazhike.
They joined Luphahla, Benjani and Chimedza, in the starting XI.
The late Edzai Kasinauyo, who came in for Ndlovu, in what was effectively the Flying Elephant’s farewell match, on the big occasion, and Shingi Kawondera, who replaced Mushangazhike, were introduced in the second half.
And, against all odds, they found a way to beat a very powerful Ghana side.
The team, which had the likes of Gabriel Issah Ahmed (FC Ashdod, Israel); John Mensah (Rennes, France); Emmanuel Pappoe (Hapoel Kfar Saba, Israel); John Paintsil (Hapoel Tel Aviv, Israel); Stephen Appiah (Fenerbahce, Turkey) and Haminu Dramani (Red Star Belgrade, Serbia).
The one which had managed to secure their country’s first appearance, at the World Cup, where they would be the only African representatives, to go beyond the group stages.
The one which beat the Czech Republic (2-0) and the United States (2-1) to help them bounce back, from their opening day 0-2 defeat to eventual 2006 World Champions Italy, to reach the Round of 16.
Cote d’Ivoire, Tunisia, Togo and Angola, the four other African representatives, were knocked out in the group stages.
The Black Stars eventually fell, in the Round of 16, after succumbing to a 0-3 defeat, at the hands of Brazil.
Ronaldo, Adriano and Ze Roberto were on target for the five-time World Champions.
However, this was a strong Black Stars team, in the making, which would finish third, at the 2008 Nations Cup finals and second, at the 2010 AFCON finals.
At the 2010 World Cup finals, they came within a penalty conversion, in the last minute, to become the first African side to reach the semi-finals of the tournament.
“This was the biggest success in Ghanaian football and the biggest success in my career,’’ Milovan Rajevac, who has returned for another spell as the Black Stars coach, said last month.
“I was happy to share this success with you. If (Luis) Suarez hadn’t done what he did, we might have been world champions.’’
That’s the past.
The present assignment is a battle against the Warriors, on Saturday, with both countries having so much to draw inspiration from a recent past, including their duel in Egypt, 15 years ago.
The Warriors came of age that night in Ismailia.
The Black Stars learnt that nothing can ever be taken for granted, in this game, regrouped and went on a great adventure, which reached a climax in South Africa, in 2010.
Online Reporter