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Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor
ZIMBABWE’S Warriors yesterday brought the curtain down on a depressing 2014 World Cup campaign — their worst since the six-match four-team group qualifying format was introduced in Africa exactly 25 years.
On the 20th anniversary of the year when Reinhard Fabisch and his Dream Team came within 90 minutes of booking a place at the ‘94 World Cup finals, the Warriors failed to flex their muscles in a poor campaign that never took off from day one.
Having started with a home defeat, at the hands of Guinea, the Warriors who limped from one poor result to another, finally closed this campaign with a home draw against Mozambique, which gave them the wooden spoon, as they finished bottom of the group.
They were beaten home and away by both Egypt and Guinea and could only pick points from neighbours Mozambique although the Mambas, who conceded five goals when they travelled to Guinea, did not give the Warriors the glory of a victory with their two matches both ending in draws.
Where Fabisch and his crew had stood toe-to-toe with the Pharaohs in a gripping contest in ‘93, which went to the wire but was won by the Warriors, the Class of 2013 ended their campaign yesterday 13 points adrift of the Egyptians who could make it 16 points if they win their final home game against Guinea tomorrow.
The Warriors’ failure in this campaign is put in its proper context by the fact that they even finished four points shy of the tally that Valinhos managed, in what was also dubbed a doomed campaign, in the battle for a place at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Ian Gorowa, the third coach to take charge of the team in their six games in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, could not produce the victory that his team needed yesterday to move clear of bottom place in Group E, after the Warriors again froze on home soil and never shifted into second gear in a dull show that mirrored their entire lifeless campaign.
The goal the Warriors conceded yesterday meant that they leaked a goal, in all the three home games, and with four coming in the last match against Egypt, the combined six goals meant that, on average, they let in two goals in their backyard in each of the three games.
You can’t build a successful World Cup campaign on such a home record.
But how grim, really, was this campaign?
- It’s the first time, in a group, of at least four teams, that Zimbabwe has failed to win even a single game since Fifa introduced the group format for African teams ahead of the ‘90 World Cup finals in Italy. Although the Warriors failed to win a game during the battles for a place in Italy, their group was reduced to three teams after Libya pulled out.
- It’s the first time the Warriors have finished bottom of their World Cup qualifying group, since the four-team group format was introduced, with the senior national team having played, at least, six games.
- The two points that the Warriors have, after six matches in their fruitless campaign for a place in Brazil next year, represent the lowest points tally for the senior national team, in a four-team group qualifying campaign for the World Cup, since the introduction of this format.
- Twenty years after the Dream Team won four games and drew two of their six group matches to top their group and book a place in the final qualifiers where they were pipped by just two points, for a place at the World Cup by Cameroon, they ended with just two draws, four defeats and no victory this time around.
- That Fabisch and his men finished their campaign in ‘93 with five times as many points on the table as the current crop of Warriors, when back then a team only earned just two points for a victory, puts our current failures into proper context.
Gorowa challenged his men, on the eve of the game, to give their fans the victory that they wanted but the Warriors failed to respond to that call and were poor, for long periods, leaving their supporters with more questions than answers.
While Gorowa’s mission was to try and give a run to some of the players that he wants to use for his CHAN team, which explains the use of just one foreign-based player in this contest, the coach knows that would not be an excuse for the way his players froze, once again, in their backyard.
It was their third straight draw at Rufaro, since Gorowa took over as coach, after similar results against Mauritius and Zambia, and, worryingly, their game lost its shape after the break and the substitutes that were introduced failed to add the value the coach wanted.
Gorowa’s defence, which makes a lot of sense, is that it’s not fair to expect him to put together a team that can play flowing and eye-catching football when he is only given one day, the Friday before Match Day, to have his entire squad in camp.
Yesterday, after the match, Gorowa also highlighted that point and was supported by his assistant, Callisto Pasuwa, who said that the players suffered, especially in the second half, from the effects of playing some tough midweek matches for their clubs.
But this was never Gorowa’s campaign, he just received the baton to run the final leg of a relay that had already been messed up, and while a victory yesterday would have cheered the spirits of the fans and ensured we avoided the wooden spoon, the damage, in this World Cup show, was done a very long time ago.
For Gorowa, his challenge is to keep his eyes on the ball to build a team that can compete very well at the CHAN finals, whose ticket was won the hardest way possible with an historic victory and Ndola, and while yesterday’s result was a disappointment, it should not distract him from his vision.
There will be an army of vociferous critics, who will say that the Warriors have been a big yawn at home since Gorowa took over, and will use yesterday’s result in their dossier against the coach and why they believe the national team is not taking steps forward under his watch.
But it comes with the terrain and, in Ndola, he silenced some of them but he needs to do more and the CHAN finals should be starting point.
Zimbabwe World Cup qualifying Record
‘82 World Cup
Cameroon 2, Zimbabwe 0
Zimbabwe 1, Cameroon 1
(Cameroon qualify for the next round 3-1 on aggregate)
‘86 World Cup
Egypt 1, Zimbabwe 0
Zimbabwe 1, Egypt 1
(Egypt qualifying for the next round 2-1 on aggregate)
‘90 World Cup
African Zone Group A
P W D L F A Pts
Algeria 4 3 1 0 6 1 7
C d’Ivoire 4 1 2 1 5 1 4
ZIMBABWE 4 0 1 3 1 10 1
*Libya withdrew from the group and the qualifying campaign.
‘94 World Cup
African Zone Group C
P W D L F A Pts
ZIMBABWE 6 4 2 0 8 4 10
Egypt 6 3 2 1 9 3 8
Angola 5 1 2 2 3 4 4
Togo 5 0 0 5 2 11 0
Final Qualifying Group
Cameroon 4 3 0 1 7 3 6
ZIMBABWE 4 2 0 2 3 6 4
Guinea 4 1 0 3 4 5 2
*Cameroon qualify for the
‘94 World Cup finals
‘98 World Cup
African Zone Group 4
P W D L F A Pts
Cameroon 6 4 2 0 10 4 14
Angola 6 2 4 0 7 4 10
ZIMBABWE 6 1 1 4 6 7 4
Togo 6 1 1 4 6 14 4
2002 World Cup
African Zone Group E
P W D L F A Pts
S Africa 6 5 1 0 10 3 16
ZIMBABWE 6 4 0 2 7 5 12
B Faso 6 1 2 3 7 8 5
Malawi 6 0 1 5 4 12 1
2006 World Cup
African Zone Group 4
P W D L F A Pts
Angola 10 6 3 1 12 6 21
Nigeria 10 6 3 1 21 7 21
ZIMBABWE 10 4 3 3 13 14 15
Gabon 10 2 4 4 11 13 10
Algeria 10 1 5 4 8 15 8
Rwanda 10 1 2 7 6 16 5
2010 World Cup
African Zone Group Two
P W D L F A Pts
Guinea 6 3 2 1 9 5 11
Kenya 6 3 1 2 8 5 10
ZIMBABWE 6 1 3 2 4 6 6
Namibia 6 2 0 4 7 12 6
2014 World Cup
African Zone Group G
P W D L F A Pts
Egypt 5 5 0 0 12 5 15
Guinea 5 3 1 1 10 4 10
Moza 6 0 3 3 2 10 3
ZIMBABWE 6 0 2 4 4 9 2
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter