Online Reporter
AFTER 13 months without a win, the Warriors finally tasted victory when they beat Qatar 2-1 in a friendly international in Doha on Monday night.
It was also the first win for our new coach Marian “Super Mario’ Marinica and it came in only his second match in charge of the Warriors.
His first match ended in a 1-3 defeat at the hands of Algeria in Saudi Arabia last week.
It was a baptism of fire for Super Mario and reports that the Warriors camp was engulfed in turmoil, in the wake of a fall out between the coach and some of the players, only complicated issues.
We really don’t know what was happening behind the scenes in Saudi Arabia and, in today’s world, where a lot of things are leaked, we can’t say for certain that nothing bad happened.
But that is not what we want to highlight on this space today.
What we want to highlight are the positives that we saw in that battle in Doha in which our national team, for a refreshing change, fought like true Warriors.
There was some passion in their fight and one could tell that they were fighting as a unit and they were not waiting for the occasional spark from one of their star players.
The squad, which went into battle on Monday night, did not have many of its leading players like Marshall Munetsi and Washington Arubi but those who came in justified their inclusion with fine performances.
In recent months we have seen the Warriors crumble once the opposition take the lead.
On Monday night, we saw a different Warriors side which, instead of crumbling once they conceded a goal, appeared to draw inspiration from their situation to fight even more.
They came back roaring and equalised through giant centreback Munashe Garananga.
And, in the second half, substitute Bill Antonio scored the winner.
The result was important because it eases the pressure which was already starting to build on Super Mario.
If he had lost this match, the Romanian would have been under severe pressure with many voices coming through that he is probably not the right coach to guide the Warriors.
ZIFA would also have been put under intense pressure because the association’s decision to appoint Super Mario hasn’t been a popular choice.There are some pockets of our football community who believe Super Mario isn’t the best coach to take charge of the Warriors.
Had his men lost the game against Qatar, there would have been calls for ZIFA to reconsider his position as the coach who should guide the Warriors at the AFCON finals next month.
The good thing is that all that noise will die down now and Super Mario can start preparing for the tournament in earnest.
However, what is important is that we should all acknowledge that despite the win against Qatar, there is still a lot that needs to be done if we are going to make an impression in Morocco.
