King Peter salutes triumphant Warriors

foundation for possible qualification for the 2013 African Cup of Nations in South Africa.
Ndlovu, now an assistant coach in the Warriors dressing room, watched with satisfaction from the touchline as the new band of players, under the captaincy of goalkeeper Tapuwa Kapini, showed grit and commitment in grinding out a 1-0 victory over a battling Burundi in a first round, second leg encounter at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday.
Chief striker Knowledge Musona found the target in the 36th minute to settle a roller-coaster assignment that had seen the Warriors losing the first leg 2-1 in Bujumbura on February 29.
Interestingly, Musona was also the provider of the important away goal in Bujumbura, the German-based talisman finding the target in a match in which he led the Warriors’ line of attack just hours after touching down in the Burundi capital.
The Warriors will now join 29 other nations in the hat on July 5 when the Confederation of African Football conduct the draw for the final round of qualifiers to be staged in September.
The 15 winners from the second round of matches which will be played over two legs will join hosts South Africa at the continental soccer showpiece early next year.
After a disappointing start to their 2014 World Cup campaign in which they lost 1-0 at home to Guinea and drew 0-0 with Mozambique in Maputo, coach Rahman Gumbo’s class were under immense pressure to stem their slide and avoid an embarrassing first round elimination by Burundi.
Despite being reduced to 10 men after just 29 minutes, following Willard Katsande’s expulsion, the Warriors hung onto the lead which Musona had given them for dear life, with the outstanding centreback duo of Esrom Nyandoro and Carlington Nyadombo leading the way in repelling everything that the Swallows threw at them.
On the occasions that Burundi breached the Warriors rearguard, which also included Onismor Bhasera and Oscar Machapa, they found skipper Kapini in an uncompromising mood.
Ndlovu, a veteran of many Warriors battles who led his country to two Nations Cup finals, spoke glowingly of the team arguing that they might not have been fashionable in the manner they won but they had shown their character and true potential.
“I think this win has put them back on the right path. I think the belief is going to come back and this could be the turning point. These are young boys who are hungry for success and the potential has always been there, they just needed to win again.
“We have good players that couldn’t deliver because of the pressure but now some of the players will come out of their shells and present themselves,’’ Ndlovu said.
The former Coventry, Birmingham and Sheffield United forward revealed that their instruction to the players ahead of the Burundi game was to ensure they win at all costs and King Peter was happy the result they had wanted had been achieved.
“The boys had belief and you could see from the start that we meant business. Of course it was sad to see Willard Katsande making that silly mistake and getting a red card.
“It is not acceptable at this level of the game and all the boys carried him out and definitely he should apologise to the team. The guys had to work overtime because of his actions but look he is a team player and that is why he was crying about it after being sent off.
“In terms of the game, I think the guys stuck to the game plan where by we said we had to get a goal as early as possible and we had to win in whatever manner possible,’’ Ndlovu said.
Ndlovu said the manner in which the Warriors absorbed the Burundi pressure, especially in the last quarter of the game when the Swallows tried to make their numerical advantage count, proved that their troops had the character to withstand the heat when pinned.
“They were bombarding us in the last 10 to 15 minutes but the guys stood their ground and in the end we won the game. I think we deserve all the plaudits from the people. They were fantastic in their support, they were unbelievable but of course sometimes they didn’t stick with the team like in the last few minutes and those are the occasions when we needed them  most,’’ said Ndlovu.
Ndlovu, who is also the national Under-23 coach, urged Zifa not to bask in the glory of the success over Burundi and forget about the need to plan for the much tougher second round assignments.
“The draw will be in July, which is just in a few weeks time. But between now and September there is ample time for us to prepare but we need to have a proper progrramme of preparations because we cannot leave it until the last minute again.
“We could have a plan whereby we can get these guys together starting with the locally based players so that they get used to each other so that when the professionals join in we would have covered ground and they will complement the guys,’’ Ndlovu said.
Veteran defender Nyandoro, who made his name playing in midfield but has reverted to the position he played in his early days at AmaZulu, also called on the football chiefs to put more emphasis in the Warriors preparations if Zimbabwe are to secure a possible place at the Nations Cup finals. Nyandoro, playing in his swansong Nations Cup qualifiers has been outstanding in the Warriors last two outings against Mozambique and Burundi.
“I think this win is a big relief for us. We have been playing well but luck was eluding us. I think this goal we got from Knowledge will open up more opportunities for this team and we can only build on from here. If we can play more games together and if we can’t secure a friendly match even a training camp so that the boys get together regularly it will help and God willing we can qualify,’’ Nyandoro said.