Come on you Warriors!

Ray Bande Senior Sports Reporter
CHEF de Mission in Rwanda where the Warriors are on national duty in the African Nations Championships, Piraishe Mabhena, says the mood in camp is awesome and winning tomorrow (Saturday)’s encounter against Mali is all that they need to keep alive their hopes of going beyond the group stage.

Zimbabwe Chan representatives Class of 2016 in this biennial soccer tournament have a challenge to better their predecessors at the tournament ending in the semis.

While the team has targeted the finals, it will have to navigate past a seemingly difficult group, Group D, where they are entertaining long time rivals and neighbours Zambia, Uganda and Mali.

Sadly, the national team opened its account with a huge disappointment when they endured a flurry of missed clear cut scoring opportunities to suffer painful a 1-0 defeat against bitter rivals Zambia.

In an interview from Kigali Rwanda where he is head of the Zimbabwe delegation, Mabhena conceded that defeat against Zambia on Tuesday afternoon was a huge disappointment and agony was evident in camp.

The former Eastern Region chairman, who is now national Zifa board member, said coaches and players had put behind the result against Zambia.

“In my opinion, delayed substitution cost us. We played for more than five minutes without one player on the field. It was a technical shortcoming on our part. Otherwise, we played well and deserved a better result than what we got.

“The next game is very crucial. If we can get a good result from it then we are through to the next stage of the competition. I am confident that we are very much in it,” said Mabhena.

He said the team had upped the tempo in training, while the passion to win against Mali tomorrow (Saturday) was crystal clear.

“The defeat against Zambia was a huge disappointment. However, I am happy that the coaches and players have put that behind. The mood in the camp now is awesome.

“The boys were not happy to have lost that match, but everyone is now optimistic. We are leaving shortly for our second training session less than 24 hours after the defeat and that shows how serious and determined we are,” added the Chiredzi-based former Hippo Valley football club chairman.