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Ishemunyoro Chingwere in CAPE TOWN, South Africa
WARRIORS ‘keeper, George Chigova, has challenged his team to win their CHAN Group B match against Uganda at Athlone tomorrow so that they keep their fate firmly in their hands.
The Cranes of Uganda have surprisingly emerged as the leaders of Group B after sneaking into pole position as the only team from the group to win their opening round of matches on the first day of the programme on Sunday.
Another win for the Cranes tomorrow will see them sealing their place in the quarter-finals and leaving the Warriors on the ropes with their chances of a place in the last eight hanging in the balance.
A loss for Ian Gorowa and his men tomorrow, no matter what happens elsewhere, will not send them reeling out of the tournament but their fate will no longer be in their hands and, effectively, this would have turned into Mission Impossible.
A win for Gorowa’s team will thrust them into pole position and, with their fate in their hands, for a place in the quarter-finals of the tournament for the first time since this tournament was unveiled in 2009.
The Warriors dropped two points, in their first match of the group against Morocco, having dominated the encounter, especially in the second half, with their limitations in front of goal, which were known long before this tournament got underway, being crudely exposed.
Rangy forward, Donald Ngoma, was the fall guy of that drawn game after missing two glorious chances, including producing a contender for the Miss of the Tournament, when he somehow failed to sweep home a lovely cross from the right after finding himself free in front of goal.
While Ngoma and Ali Sadiki were misfiring with the other forward, Simba Sithole, largely anonymous until he popped up on the near post, in the second half and crashed his effort against the upright after lovely work by the Warriors down the right channel, a teenage Uganda forward was delivering goals for the Cranes against Burkina Faso.
Nineteen-year-old Junior Yunus Sentamu is a striker who arrived at this CHAN finals with a good reputation as a rising forward, having top-scored in the Ugandan domestic top-flight league, and in the first match against the Burkinabe he justified all the buzz that has followed him with a vintage show.
Sentamu struck twice, on both occasions showing the raw predatory instincts that were lacking from the Zimbabwean forwards, dummying the ‘keeper to run clear and slot into an empty net for the first goal and then slicing a cross from the right into the roof of the net for the insurance second goal.
How Gorowa, given the chances that his team created on Sunday, would have wished to have a striker as deadly as Sentamu. The Warriors, to their credit, picked up what might turn out to be a very big point against their fancied North African counterparts.
Chigova, largely expected to play a key role in the Warriors’ success here, yesterday said his teammates should now beat the group leaders so that they go into the last round against Burkina Faso with their fatee firmly within their grip.
“Although we could have been better off with a win against Morocco after creating so many chances, the point we picked has placed us in a very firm position to qualify for the quarter-finals,” said the big ‘keeper.
“The challenge is now to beat Uganda and make sure we go into the last game without the anxiety of calculating permutations that will see us through. We must simply beat Uganda and we would be home and dry.”
The big goalkeeper, who is looking for his seventh international cap, played a blinder as the Warriors bundled out Chipolopolo of Zambia at the Levi Mwanawasa Stadium in the second leg of the final qualier.
Despite failing to score against the Atlas Lions of Morocco, his teammates found solace in the fact that the team managed to create chances a sign he believes shows they are doing well.
“We might have failed to get goals but people must not forget that we were in scoring positions, a sign that shows we were just unlucky not to get goals,” said Chigova.
“We have a very good frontline which on its day can bang them in and I am sure they will prove it in our next matches.
“I honestly would have been a lot worried had we not created chances, but the rate at which we created clearly shows we were hungry for it.”
The 22-year-old Zimbabwe international, who received medical attention in the first half as he felt pain in his thigh, says he has now overcome his injury worries and should the coaches thrust their faith in him, as they are likely to do, he will be ready to take to the field of play in defence of his motherland.
“I clashed with (defender Eric) Chipeta after we went for a high ball and he got my thigh that is why I had to be attended to by the doctor. But I no longer feel any pain and should the coaches select me, I will be ready,” said the Dynamos goalkeeper whose frame has endeared him well with Zimbabweans based in the Mother City.
Gorowa and his technical team yesterday decided to give the team a day to recover. On Monday only those who did not play against Morocco had a light workout while those that played loosened up in the swimming pool.
Online Reporter