adminworst performance, albeit with a bumper 3-0 victory over Liberia on Sunday, to critically highlight how much attention to detail is shaping the world football.
Zimbabwe’s win could painfully prove in vain, in the final analysis, as a win by Group leaders Mali away in Monrovia on the same day in October, could render useless, our envisaged victory in Praia that could leave Norman Mapeza stranded on the finishing line with 11 points.
What cannot be erased from the face of football is that in the era that even Fifa has started using match data for their analysis and decisions, Zimbabwe is among the teams, including world champions Spain and losing finalists Holland (who hammered San Marino a record 11-0), Germany, England and Italy whose first half performance is marked in the 69 percentage mark, for all teams that played at the weekend and won their matches.
According to the figures, Zimbabwe scored two goals in the first 45 minutes with both goals coming from crosses into the box from wide areas, a statistic that showed that the most number goals scored (77 percent) in all the African qualifiers came from such situations.
There were 45 goals scored in all the groups (A-K).
Zimbabwe’s performance was laboured at times, and not pleasing on the eye, but it was effective in key areas of the pitch.
Mapeza demonstrated that he studied the numbers and emphasised the the need to keep possession in crucial areas, while defending very high up the field, pressing from the front with Quincy Antipas, whose sprints clocked seven metres per second each time he ran at the defence.
Unfortunately, his injury and eventual departure after 29 minutes, killed the plan and with it the fluidity of movement and penetration.
But it must be noted that the central midfield struggled the entire match.
If, in the match against Mali at Rufaro, the criticism was for passing too much backwards and sideways and rarely forward, at the giant stadium, there was a dearth of passing.
Tinashe Nengomasha struggled more with positioning than breaking down opposition play, and Willard Katsande – forget his opener – were absolute passengers in the side.
They had to be carried by the indefatigable Vusa Nyoni, who again shone at leftback, and Ovidy Karuru.
For once, there were fewer passes in the middle than in the defensive third in the entire match, as captain Method Mwanjali, who too struggled with positioning before retiring injured, tried too hard to counter the off-the-ball movements of the dangerous Sekou Oliseh, decided to bypass the middle as the traffic logjam there always gave the Liberians an advantage of both territory and possession.
Rightback Gilbert Mapemba lost his compass entirely and became the terminus of all Liberian raids with Oliseh and captain Antony Laffor always drifting right each time they found possession in the final third.
Thanks to the excellent simplicity of Daniel Veremu, the right-sided centre back, danger was averted when Laffor skinned the right back, sold Mwanjali a dummy just outside the box, while drawing keeper Tapuwa Kapini off the line with Nyoni having too much distance to cover, the Liberian captain decided to try a cheeky chip which Kapini gathered.
With that rare chance fluffed in the 41st minute, Liberia’s jury was clearly out and Zimbabwe punished them the next minute when substitute Tafadzwa Rusike delivered a teasing cross into the crowded box, which Karuru headed in for the second of the day and crucially an insurance goal, which Opta analysts described as “a game changing goal delivered with mathematical precision while remembering the geometry of the build up for posterity”.
With the insurance goal in the bag just before the break, Liberia had to dig deep in the second period to get back quickly into the game.
And they really tried with substitute Ansu Toure, who had both pace and guile, bossed the midfield striking a good combination with Oliseh.
Their interplay totally flummoxed the central midfield of Zimbabwe forcing Mapeza to pull out Nengomasha who had just run 6 781 metres in 64 minutes while keeping the ball for a total of 49 seconds.
He just did not have the legs on Sunday.
Zimbabwe, who dominated possession in the defensive third (39%) midfield (31%) and final third (30%) and never for once looked under threat or in danger of losing the match, were wasteful in front of goal, after creating a massive 17 chances in the final third with Edward Sadomba, who clocked a commendable 8 425 metres on the day, guilty of not converting more chances than any other player on the day.
But, Sadomba, crucially held up the ball better than any in the final third and if he had any player in the side, and with the poacher instincts, his contribution would have been clear for all to see than dividing opinion as he did at the end of the match, missing chances at a canter.
He was not alone in that bracket; Karuru too was guilty of delaying passes by wanting to dribble too much for too long.
He is capable of creating chances because he has excellent work rate and a wonderful vision while gifted with a unique variation of passing ability and a heart for it.
He gave out the highest output figures with a graph that did not drop in the entire match.
Karuru consistently completed a pass in the final third for an average 83 percent, only Wesley Sneijder (Holland), Wayne Rooney (England) and Thomas Muller (Germany) passed higher at the weekend in the qualifiers, statistics show.
Thanks to Karuru’s figures, and crucially those of Khama Billiat, Zimbabwe have been able to keep the ball in the final third longer, an increase of 3.1 percent from previous figures.
It may seem a small figure, but a more careful attention to details will reveal that it has increased the chance of the team scoring – Goal Probability Added, as evidenced by three in one against figures of three in four games going into Sunday’s match.
The same figures also showed that Liberia committed more errors in their defensive third at 27 percent and all the three goals resulted directly from the errors. If using the numbers gives you an edge, why not use them
Online Reporter