Online Reporter
Innocet Kurira
Zimpapers Sports Hub
DID Ramon Catalá get his tactics wrong?
That is the question being asked after the Warriors lost 2-1 to DRC at the National Sports Stadium on Monday.
Catalá started central midfielder Andy Rinomhota at right-back, while goalkeeper Elvis Chipezeze retained his place between the posts.
Both decisions became talking points after Zimbabwe struggled to contain a DRC side that controlled large spells of the match.
Rinomhota is primarily a central midfielder but Catalá opted to use his energy and defensive qualities on the right side of the defence.
The move came at a cost in midfield, where Zimbabwe lost a player capable of carrying the ball, winning possession and helping the Warriors manage the tempo.
Local coach Kudzayi Mhandire questioned the Warriors approach.
“Naturally a rightback won’t allow you to go inside, he will force you to go outside,” said Mhandire.
“If it was a regular rightback, he was not going to allow Wissa to go inside. He would force you down the line.
“By so doing, Wissa was not going to go through.”
The deployment of Rinomhota also meant Zimbabwe had to adjust their midfield structure while Bill Antonio was required to contribute defensively.
It is here that the tactical debate becomes more complicated.
Mhandire believes Catalá could have approached the game with greater patience instead of committing his strongest attacking options from the start.
“We shouldn’t have gone for the jugular from the onset. We should not have started with our best cards,” he said.
“Sometimes in football you win the game from the bench. Sometimes you need some people who can come from the bench and change the game.”
His preferred approach would have been to frustrate DRC for as long as possible before introducing Zimbabwe’s speed merchants.
“All we needed was to keep it nil-nil for a longer period. The frustration was going to be on Congo,” Mhandire said.
“With the quality they have, once we got that frustration, then we add our best cards.”
Mhandire specifically identified Tawanda Maswanhise and Bill Antonio as players who could have been used later to exploit a tiring DRC defence.
“My thoughts are we should have worn them down and then brought in our speedy wingers like Maswanhise and Bill Antonio later on,” he said.
The goalkeeper position presents another question.
Catalá again trusted Chipezeze, despite the goalkeeper’s recent performances having already generated debate among supporters.
Against DRC, Zimbabwe conceded two goals, with Mhandire describing the goals as coming from turnovers and questioning whether the Warriors defended key situations properly.
The decision to persist with Chipezeze therefore becomes part of the wider discussion about Catalá’s selection philosophy.
Was the coach prioritising experience and continuity, or should he have used the match to introduce another goalkeeper?
There is no doubt that DRC possessed considerable individual quality, and Zimbabwe’s defeat cannot simply be reduced to one selection or one tactical decision.
However, the match exposed areas that Catalá will need to address.
The Warriors struggled to control the midfield, were vulnerable when DRC attacked the right side of their defence and found it increasingly difficult to create openings as the game progressed.
That is where the Rinomhota decision becomes particularly significant.
Moving a central midfielder to rightback may have solved one problem, but it created another in the centre of the pitch.
And with the coach also choosing to stick with Chipezeze, questions remain over whether Catalá got the balance between experience, positional discipline and attacking threat right.
