‘COME CHEER ON WARRIORS’

NATIONAL team assistant coach Saul Chaminuka has urged football fans to turn out in their numbers at Barbourfields Stadium this afternoon and cheer the Warriors to an emphatic win against Lesotho in the African Nations Championship first leg final round qualifier.
Chaminuka said support from fans was crucial, adding that a full stadium could prove intimidating to the Likuena while giving the Warriors an edge. Speaking after the Warriors’ final training session at BF yesterday morning, Chaminuka said they were aiming for a high scoring win which will cushion them when they play in the second leg in Maseru on Saturday.

“A high scoring win would do us good but we will still be happy winning by any margin, actually it is a must win game for us but we have to get victory without conceding. We had a good training session this morning and we are on the same page with players and I feel they are ready to do the job tomorrow. We were doing final touches today and reminding the boys of what they should do tomorrow (today) and we also worked on free kicks both in attack and in defence,” said Chaminuka.

Chaminuka said they had no injury worries and would be at full strength today. There had been injury concerns on defenders, Teenage Hadebe and Blessing Moyo but the assistant coach said they had been certified fit by the medical department.

Head coach Kalisto Pasuwa did not attend the final training session as he was said to be attending to a relative who was not feeling well.

It will be a meeting of teacher and students as Lesotho coach, Seephephe Matete is a Caf instructor and mentored Chaminuka in pursuance of the Caf C coaching licence but both coaches played down the role saying it won’t impact on the final result.

Matete, who has been in the country three times before to conduct coaching courses, said having tutored the (Zimbabwean) coaches would not have any bearing on the game as there were other factors that would influence the final result.

He said Lesotho will gun for an away goal, which he felt would give his side an advantage in the return leg.
“I think if we do not concede early say in the first 15 minutes, we will be able to settle and take the game to them (Zimbabwe). I believe a draw or low margin loss will do us well but what is important is that we get a goal tomorrow which is crucial if we are to entertain any hopes of going through to the Chan finals. Our preparations have been good, we had no disturbances and everyone put in 100 percent effort so nothing should stop us from getting a good result,” said Matete.

He, however, said injuries had ruled out two of their key players, holding midfielder Bokang Mothaona and playmaker Bushy Moletsone adding their absence would restrict their substitution options. Matete said the Warriors had the edge going into the match because of the professional status of the Zimbabwe Premier League saying the top tier league in Lesotho was at an amateur stage.

“Zimbabwe’s league is more professional than ours and the players are more developed than ours and if we are calling up players we have to deal with football basics, fitness and other such minor things but I think here when the national team is called up the coaches focus on tactics making their training easier,” he said.

“The weather has also been unpredictable because in the last two days we have experienced too much heat, a little bit of rain and cool conditions so we are yet to acclimatise to the local weather but I hope it won’t affect us too much.”

Lesotho have only beaten Zimbabwe once in their 16 meetings with Zimbabwe winning 12 matches with three stalemates.

Match officials
Referee: Waziri Sheha Sheha Waziri (Tanzania)
Assistant I: Samuel Hudson Mpenzu (Tanzania)
Assistant II: Alli Kinduli (Tanzania)
Reserve Referee: Martin Eliphas Sanya (Tanzania)
Match Commissioner: William Makinati Shangwe (Swaziland)