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Ishemunyoro Chingwere in CAPE Town, South Africa
WARRIORS coach Ian “Dibango” Gorowa believes his men have a good chance to start their African Nations Championships on a positive note when they take on Morocco’s Atlas Lions in Group B opener at the Athlone Stadium tomorrow. The match starts at 5pm and is live on SuperSport 4 and SuperSport4 HD.
Despite this being their debut appearance at the tournament, the North Africans have already had an early tournament favourites’ tag stitched on them after coach Richard Taoussi named a strong squad that includes eight players from 10-time Moroccan champions Raja Casablanca.
The Warriors are bidding for a first place on the knockout stage of a major tournament and the North Africans might be the biggest stumbling block in a group that also includes Burkina Faso and Uganda.
The inclusion of several Raja players in the Lions squad, among them midfielders Issam Eraki, Mohsine Moutaouali as well as goal poacher Mouhssine Iajour, who only last month had an inspired run in the Fifa World Club Cup losing to Bayern Munich in the final, has sent a chill down the spines of fellow Group B members.
But Gorowa isn’t a worried man.
“There is no doubt that we are going into the match as underdogs but we are really not worried by their top billing,” Gorowa told The Herald.
“A lot has been said about them bringing more than half a dozen from Raja Casablanca players who I must say have been doing well in their league, but so what?
”We also have players from clubs like Dynamos and Highlanders who have been doing tremendously well over the last three years.
“Let them say whatever they want to say but we know deep in our hearts that we have the capacity to cause a major upset.
“We also draw inspiration from the fact that the match is played on a neutral venue unlike if it was in Morocco (where Raja shone at the World Club Cup), so it really is anybody’s game to win.”
Gorowa is no stranger to slaying giants and his qualification at the expense of the fancied Chipolopolo of Zambia, despite failing to pull out a result at Rufaro, should give confidence to the Warriors fans.
Gorowa said the most important thing for his men was to concentrate on their strengths and let the Moroccans, who are ranked 25 places better than the Warriors on the Fifa rankings (77th compared to the Zimbabwe’s 102), worry about them instead.
“We are not really looking much into their camp. Of course, we know they are very fast and press very high, but we are only concentrating on our strengths because we really have many strengths, by the way,” said the former Zimbabwe international.
Gorowa also emerged from yesterday’s light training session to declare a clean bill of health and said he now faces a positive headache as everybody is fighting for a starting place.
The Warriors, who only had one training session as they recovered from their practice match against Ajax Cape Town FC, chose to put their fate in the hands of God and were led in a prayer session by a Zimbabwean pastor based in South Africa.
The national team is unbeaten since Gorowa took over as coach but he knows that his proud record faces its biggest test against the Moroccans today.
A sizeable Zimbabwean crowd is expected to cheer the Warriors who know that a win tomorrow could calm their nerves and boost their chances of winning a place in the knockout phase of the tourney.
There is quite a considerable Zimbabwean community based in South Africa’s major cities of Johannesburg and Cape Town and they have waited for years to cheer their boys in action in a major football tournament here.
The Warriors almost made it to the 2013 Nations Cup finals, which were held here, but blew a 3-1 first leg win after falling 0-2 to Angola in Luanda.
Gorowa has a good team, which has spent about a month in camp in what has been a positive contribution from Zifa their cause, and giant goalkeeper George Chigova is expected to be given the nod between the posts.
Skipper Partson Jaure should marshal his troops at the back with Milton Ncube, Hardlife Zvirekwi operating on the flanks while Eric Chipeta will certainly provide that support in central defence.
Kudakwashe Mahachi is the poster boy of this Zimbabwe team, the star of their midfield, but it is the silent killer, Danny Phiri, who does all the dirty work in that midfield.
Getting goals could prove tricky for the Warriors, who lost their depend-able forward, Tendai Ndoro, when he signed for Mpumalanga Black Aces, making him ineligible for this tournament.
Online Reporter