Online Reporter
Robson Sharuko
Metros Editor
THIS was the AFCON finals the football gods had scripted for the Warriors to write the tournament’s Cinderella tale.
But, instead, we self-destructed and blew away our golden chance to make history.
A battery of some exciting young forwards, with pace to burn, the trickery to even rob a conman, the passion to represent their country with pride and the confidence of the biblical David, gave the Warriors a real threat and a cutting edge.
This was a group of young men, who were not carrying the punishing weight of the burden of failure in our previous campaigns, but just a wolves’ pack fuelled by their raw talents to leave a mark on this tourney.
They all arrived carrying the benefits of the proper coaching, which they have received for years, during their lengthy periods under the guidance of highly qualified coaches at their European bases.
Jonah Fabisch (24), Tawanda Chirewa (22), Tawanda Maswanhise (23) Bill Antonio (23) and Sean Fusire (20), are part of that Euro brigade of emerging Warriors who arrived at the 2025 AFCON finals, desperate to write a new chapter for their country.
Collectively, they came carrying the benefits of the technical, and tactical expertise, gained from some of the best coaches in Germany, England and Belgium. But, more importantly, they came with the youthful exuberance to let their individual talents do the talking and, in the process, take their Warriors to places we have never been before.
Somehow, coach Mario Marinica did not appear to buy into this project and made that very clear in the first XI he sent into battle in the first match against Egypt, which ended in a 1-2 defeat for the Warriors.
Only Fabisch started in this match and it’s very likely he would not have got that chance if Marshall Munetsi was available.
Chirewa was given just 28 minutes to make his mark, but that also looks to be generous when one considers that Maswanhise was given just two minutes of regulation time in that match.
In the second match against Angola, Mario somehow felt Ishmael Wadi of CAPS United would provide the cutting edge in attack, from his bench, instead of one of the best players in the Scottish Premiership.
He gave Wadi 32 minutes of regulation time and, to the forward’s credit, while he gave the Angolan defence a rough time, he didn’t have the finishing product which someone like Maswanhise provides.
Even Washington Navaya, who had struggled in the first game, was thrown again into the deep end, in the closing minutes of that match, while Maswanhise was ignored on the bench.
When, under pressure from a rebellion triggered by the fans, Mario finally threw Maswanhise into the starting XI against Bafana Bafana, the explosive forward showed him why there was such a public outcry for his inclusion.
At least, he played. Fusire, who plays in the English Championship, which is considered the seventh toughest league in the world, never got even a minute despite the clear shortcomings of our midfield. Mario can rightly argue that without the two shocking schoolboy blunders from that comical mistake by Divine Lunga and Washington Arubi and Marvelous Nakamba’s handball, the Warriors would have qualified.
Yes, that is very true.
But, that also puts into perspective the magnitude of our failure because, at a tournament where only two points would have been enough to take us into the Round of 16, the fact that we didn’t get those points hammers home the extent of our doomed mission.
Tanzania qualified with just two points.
This means that if we had held Bafana Bafana or beaten Angola, which was possible if Mario had used his brain instead of his heart and fielded Maswanhise, we would still be in the tournament.
The bottom line is that Mario was given a challenge to get, at least, just 22,22 percent of the points on offer in the group stages, to qualify for the Round of 16, and he failed.
Sunday Chidzambwa in 2004, Charles Mhlauri in 2006 and Norman Mapeza, in 2021, took 33,33 percent of the points on offer in the group stages.
Mario’s Warriors ended AFCON 2025 ranked 20 out of the 24 teams, which means we were only better than four other teams – Uganda, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Botswana.
Mapeza’s Warriors ended AFCON 2021 ranked 17 out of the 24 teams, the best of the teams, which failed to go through.
The Warriors, who had the same number of points as Comoros, who qualified for the knockout stages in 16th place, would have qualified were it not for a goal from the penalty spot, converted by Sadio Mane in the 97th minute, of their match. That same Senegalese side went on to win the tournament.
For the first time, the Warriors were being led by a coach who knew what it takes to guide a side into the knockout phases of the AFCON finals.
And, Mario had the material to take the Warriors into the Round of 16, if he had let his professional instincts, and not let his bizarre science cloud his judgment, dictate his decisions.
His ill-treatment of Maswanshise, and his refusal to use Fusire, ultimately cost him a chance to make history.
But, what’s next? Every coach who has guided the Warriors at the AFCON finals has been fired after the tournament.
Chidzambwa was even rehired, 13 years after his dismissal, to guide the team at the tournament once again.
While the turnover of the coaches has been high, one thing has not changed – the Warriors have finished bottom of their AFCON group in all their six appearances at the tournament.
The ZIFA bosses should not repeat what they have been doing all along and fire the coach because, unlike previous failures, there were glimpses in Morocco that this bunch of Warriors can really change the team’s script of failure.
Mario now knows who are his best players and should be given another chance and the authorities should also ensure that this generation of new Warriors get to play on home soil.
They need to feel the true love, which comes from their fans at home, genuine supporters who spend money to support them and not others who are paid to do that. He had a chance to start his Warriors adventure with a distinction and that he got a U was because he chose to be stubborn, when common sense dictated that Maswanhise was the best forward in his arsenal.
He has learnt his lessons – at a huge cost for us, of course.
dyton mupawaenda