Ngoma remains bullish

Eddie Chikamhi in CAPE TOWN, South Africa
Zimbabwe forward Donald Ngoma says the Warriors need to put behind them the disappointment of the opening two matches at the CHAN finals when they face Burkina Faso in a decisive Group B match at Athlone tonight. The lanky FC Platinum striker, viewed as one of the fall guys in the goalless draws against Morocco and Uganda, yesterday said the team experienced a bad patch last week and promised an improved performance tonight.

“We should approach this game like we are playing in a Cup final because we need to win at all costs to proceed to the quarter-finals of this tournament.

“But this promises not to be an easy game for both teams because we all want the points,” said Ngoma.
Zimbabwe made life difficult for themselves when they failed to make use of the numerous scoring chances they created in the first two games which ended goalless.

Despite their good build ups, the finishing part has been their major undoing, with Ngoma, Charles Sibanda and strike partner Simba Sithole sharing the guilt.

However, the FC Platinum striker yesterday told The Herald that they are ready to pick the pieces and move on.
He said they had learnt from their shortcomings and insisted that the players were in high spirits ahead of the game against Burkina Faso.
“For me and the other players it was the first time coming for this tournament. We know we can do better.
“Overall, we have been playing very well.

“It’s only that the goals are eluding us despite all the hard work. Sometimes, that is how cruel football can be but we have to pick ourselves up and continue with a positive spirit,” said Ngoma.

“Group B is not an easy group if you look at the games that have been played so far. I have seen that some of these teams have bigger players compared to us but as Zimbabwe we have our own style of play.

“It’s hard on us that the goals were not coming.
“The good thing, however, is that with the two points that we have we are still in contention for a quarterfinal place. We need to play and win for ourselves. We need to take the game to them from the first whistle,” said Ngoma.

Warriors’ fans have pledged to stand by their team.
Simeon Jamanda, who led a bus load of football fans to South Africa told The Herald that the Cape Town crowd has been supportive and urged the supporters to up their tempo in the last group game.

“So far the team has played well and this game against Burkina Faso is the breaking point. We need to go out in full force again and cheer our boys to victory. They need us now more than they did in the first two games.

“No doubt we are playing good football but I would think that we need to sharpen our strikeforce. From what we have seen as supporters the biggest handicap is that we are not getting goals and we should give them the confidence to rise to the stage and perform to their best,” said Jamanda.

Jamanda said they were appealing to the authorities after their brass band was almost denied entry into the stadium by security personnel when Zimbabwe played Uganda.

“Our entry into the stadium was tough since the security wanted to bar the brass band. They were saying they don’t allow musical instruments into the stadium but we have seen a lot of games worldwide with different kinds of cheering.

“In Nigeria the band is even bigger than the one we had. So Caf have to look into how they handle the issue of supporters,” said Jamanda.