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Eddie Chikamhi
Senior Sports Reporter
The decision by Namibia to host the Warriors behind closed doors has irked travelling Zimbabwe football supporters who had made plans beforehand to go to South Africa for the two teams’ Africa Cup of Nations matches.
The supporters, some of whom had wanted to leave for Johannesburg today for the first encounter have since been forced to reschedule their itineraries.
Both Namibia and Zimbabwe are taking turns to use Orlando as their home ground.
The Brave Warriors are the home team tomorrow while the Warriors will stage the reverse fixture on Monday.
But ZIFA announced on Monday that their Namibian counterparts have requested that no supporters be allowed in tomorrow.
Charismatic CAPS United and Warriors fans Richard “Che Mhofela” Sande reckoned that the Namibians were resorting to cheap mind games in their quest to win the encounter as they are the only team yet to collect a point in Group J, which also includes Cameroon and Kenya.
“Honestly, I am disappointed with the decision to shut the supporters out.
“Personally, I don’t take it as a technical problem or something else but those are the kind of mind games we faced in the past when we played teams, especially from West Africa.
“But you can see the same tactics are now coming to this side of the continent. As fans, we had prepared to travel to South Africa to go and cheer up the guys and we had prepared to spend about five days in South Africa for both matches.
“Anyway, we encourage our players and technical staff to prepare very well to work under those kinds of conditions to get a positive result,” Sande said.
The Namibians, who lost their opening two matches to Cameroon and Kenya, are under immense pressure to win at whatever price, including forfeiting possible revenue from the expected attendance by Zimbabweans based in South Africa.
They might also be anxious about the prospects of Zimbabwean supporters providing the 12th man for both games, which put their team at a disadvantage.
There is a huge presence of Warriors fans in South Africa.
Warriors cheerleader and Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters Association organising-secretary Chris Romario Musekiwa said the move by the Namibians was hostile.
“Warriors fans we are equally baffled by the decision by the Namibian Football Association. The reason behind this decision is yet to be known,” he said.
“However, the Warriors should not be demoralised by this decision and we urge them to crush their opponents on Thursday. We hope for an even better result on the home fixture as supporters are surely going to come in their numbers to cheer up the Warriors,” said Musekiwa.
Long-time supporter Matthias Kufandirimbwa said the Namibians demonstrated double standards as they hosted Kenya at the same venue last month without fan restrictions.
“It just goes to show that the so-called Brave Warriors are afraid of the game. How can they deny the Zimbabwean fans an opportunity to witness such an encounter?
“The Namibian Football Association should have fans at heart because football is played to entertain the fans, apart from just playing to win.
“So that was a very bad and uninformed decision on their part,” said Kufandirimbwa.
ZNSSA secretary-general Joseph Matawu said the NFA could be playing mind games to unsettle the Zimbabweans, who they know had pinned hopes on the big constituency of supporters in South Africa.
“Of course, we feel disenfranchised by this decision by Namibia, considering that we have a lot of our fellow countrymen residing in Johannesburg who would have loved to cheer their team on.
“This was going to go a long way in motivating and providing moral support for the team in this crucial AFCON qualifier. I think Namibia have acted in fear of numbers.
“Besides being a competition, football is also a form of entertainment and I think Namibians have let a lot of football lovers down. “It’s the home team and their decision and there is nothing we can do about it but the whole truth is that we are not happy about it,” said Matawu.
The Warriors will be looking to boost their campaign after collecting two points in draws against Cameroon and Kenya.
Warriors fan Lloyd Madzimure said Warriors players should maintain focus.
“This game is crucial for Namibia, especially since they’re currently at the bottom of Group J and desperately need a win to turn their campaign around. It is also equally important to Zimbabwe. That being said Zimbabwe will still win,” said Madzimure.
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