Not so bad, after all!

Ray Bande-Senior Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe senior national team might have failed to get the much-needed three points to assume Group L top position on Sunday, but their performance earned the respect of many neutrals who feel, given more time, the team has a lot of potential.Coming into Sunday’s match, the Warriors had a bright start in the Group L 2017 African Cup of Nations qualifying campaign, beating the Flames of Malawi 2-1 in their own backyard, while Guinea were stunned by Swaziland.

Thus Zimbabwe were joint leaders and a win at home against Guinea was all that they needed go on top of the log standing as well as enhance their chances of qualification for the finals.
Against a backdrop of unfulfilled promises by Zifa and jumbled foreign based players’ travelling arrangements from their respective clubs, the Warriors held their own and scrapped to a one-all stalemate against the Slyi Nationale, as Guinea are commonly referred to in African football.

Most of the football analysts interviewed by this newspaper were of the opinion that Calisto Pasuwa and his men can scale dizzy heights given more time and resources.

Former national team coach and FC Platinum mentor, Norman Mapeza, said there was really nothing wrong with Pasuwa’s team and they only need to be given a chance to prove to the nation what they can achieve.
“I do not think their performance was bad at all. Yes, the early goal unsettled us and one could see the subdued performance that came because of the fear to make mistakes. However, as the match progressed they came out of their shells and with a bit of luck we could have got the winning goal.

“Going into the future, we only need to give them the support they deserve. We need to ensure that they go into camp in time. It is unfortunate that most of the time we end up having confusion in camp simply because people fail to prepare adequately as if they did not know that they had a particular fixture in time. That is our only weakness otherwise we are not that bad,” said Mapeza.

Fellow former FC Platinum gaffer, Lloyd Mutasa, was also of the opinion that the team did not really disappoint although a win was all that the nation expected.

“It is common in football that there are three results – a win, a defeat or a draw. We drew and that is football. I am aware that we all expected to win given that we had almost all our foreign based players but that is part of the game.
“The good thing is that we did not lose that match. Given that Pasuwa has been posting impressive results away from home, one would not doubt that the team deserves more support and resources to achieve what we want,” said Mutasa.

The Warriors, will, however, look back and realise that they blew a golden chance to top their 2017 Africa Cup of Nations Group L when returning goalkeeper Washington Arubi gifted Guinea with an easy goal just after 60 seconds.
The Warriors now have four points from two matches.

During the same weekend, Swaziland drew 2-2 at home against Malawi.
The Warriors face Swaziland in their next match away while Guinea hosts Malawi.
Playing before a sell-out crowd, fans were still settling in their seats when Arubi received a back pass that he could simply have played out or back into play.

But the experienced University of Pretoria goal minder dilly-dallied and the ball hit his knees, only for the on rushing Guinea striker Iddrissa Sylla to slot home, bringing Rufaro into total stillness.
Talismanic Warriors’ top gunslinger, Knowledge Musona then rescued Zimbabwe’s point five minutes before the breather.