‘Mapeza should fine-tune his Warriors’

adjustments to the team that beat Liberia 3-0 if we are to realise our dream of qualifying for the 2012 Nations Cup finals.
We beat Liberia easily, of course, without hitting our top gear but some of our weaknesses were cruelly exposed in a number of departments and we ended up not getting the best out of our Warriors in terms of quality.

Mapeza relied heavily on the old-fashioned 4-5-1 formation, which is usually employed by coaches who are cowards or those who take an ultra cautious approach to the game where their emphasis is to try and avoid losing at all costs.
The rest, including winning, is a bonus to them.
The 4-5-1 formation is used by coaches who congest the midfield with five players and a lone striker.

The whole idea is to try and ensure that the opponents will find it practically impossible to pass through this packed midfield.
But did this formation help us in our last game against Liberia?
Although we won by a big margin, there are areas that need to be addressed.
Those who do not know the basic tenets of football will say that a win is a win, no matter how the goals came about and no matter how ugly the approach play was.

But football experts will reflect that although we won 3-0, it does not mean that we have qualified for the Nations Cup finals because winning a battle doesn’t necessarily mean winning a war.
What is important is to win a war not one or two battles and, in our case, winning the war means qualifying for the Nations Cup finals in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon next year.
I realised in the game against Liberia that our team was employing an old fashioned formation of four defenders, five midfielders and a lone striker.
Method Mwanjali had a free role in the heart of the defence with Daniel Vheremu tasked with doing the marking with Gilbert Mapemba and Vusa Nyoni, on the right and left, playing predominantly as defenders

and not as modern day wingbacks.
Mapeza was too cautious against Liberia.
Inevitably the standard of play produced by the Warriors on the day was not good for the eye as players did not have the freedom to express themselves.

Fans go to the stadium to see exciting attacking football and not just boring tight-marking games that are frustratingly slow.
The reason why we won easily was that our team is now composed of very talented young players like Ovidy Karuru, Khama Billiat,Tafadzwa Rusike and Willard Katsande and their energy, more than our technical expertise, powered us to victory.

Katsande tried very hard to make an impression as a creative midfielder and also running into the spaces to support the attack, leading to his goal, which calmed our nerves.
But there were too many acres of unoccupied land, in the defensive arm, of our midfield.
The current crop of Warriors does not have a specialist anchorman, someone like the late Benjamin Nkonjera or Cheche Billiat.

Tinashe Nengomasha, who is playing that role, is getting old and slow and most of his passes go backwards.
When playing against a team that is at home, like Cape Verde, and with the crowd behind it, a player like Nengomasha will certainly be exposed.
The problem is that we don’t have anyone, who is younger, who can fill those shoes at the moment and, as wisdom will guide us, it will be suicidal for Mapeza to try that person in the final game of the campaign.

But what we can try is to be positive and play with two out-and-out forwards, Nyasha Mushekwi and Knowledge Musona, as central strikers and not with one of them occupying a hole between the midfielders and the lone striker.
We need to be positive in Cape Verde, more than what we did against Liberia, and Mapeza has at his disposal a group of youngsters, especially in his attacking phase, who can give him due reward and trouble the

opposition.
A star has been born, in the form of Ovidy Karuru, who is proving to be the best attacking midfielder we have had in a very long time.

Not only has he brought a new dimension to our attacking play, coming from either wing with his trickery, but he knows when to run with the ball, when to pass and when to run into the right position.
In my book, Ovidy has been the star of our campaign.
And, refreshingly, he is only 22.

He is a match winner, who is very dangerous when the ball is passed to him, and he knows what to do with it at any given time and never panics under pressure.
We have a gem in this young man and he was the provider of the first goal that Musona scored against Mali, won the penalty that Musona converted for the winner.

He provided the pass for Katsande to open the scoring against Liberia, sent Mapemba through for the pass that Billiat converted and, of course, he also scored against the Liberians.
If Mapeza can harness the attacking quality that is at his disposal and use it, rather than concentrate on being defensive, then we have a good chance of winning in Cape Verde.

I would rather we win 4-3, which could be good enough to get us a ticket to the Nations Cup finals, than settle for a 0-0 draw.
I liked Chelsea’s approach against Manchester United last Sunday where, after having fallen 0-3 down, they decided it was time to trust their instincts and those who saw the game know that they should have been better rewarded than the one goal they got in return.

Yes, they were exposed at the back, but when you go with your instincts, you can win away matches.
Daniel Vheremu is improving with each outing but he lack experience at this high level.
He had a good game against Liberia but I feel that, against better opponents, and playing away from home, he can be punished.

Cape Verde have big and muscular players, especially in defence, who can frustrate our very small players like Billiat.
However, the return of Musona gives us options and he could the ace in the pack.

Edward Sadoma has been a failure at national team level and it doesn’t necessarily mean that scoring goals in Sudan or in the African Champions League makes one a good player for his country.
The good thing, though, for Mapeza is that the return of Mushekwi and Musona provides him with his first-choice attacking combination.

Mapeza has done a pretty good job so far, and deserves all our support, but he needs to just fine-tune his team and, like Botswana who won in Tunisia, we can win in Cape Verde and book our tickets to the 2012 Nations Cup finals.