Pasuwa rallies his troops

Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
AS the Warriors count their losses and were left to rue a golden chance to reach their first continental cup final, assistant coach Callisto Pasuwa yesterday rallied his troops to pick themselves up again and focus on their last assignment against Nigeria tomorrow. The Warriors will face the Super Eagles in an African Nations Championships third-place play-off at Cape Town Stadium in a game that will precede the 2014 final between surprise packages Libya and 2009 losing finalists Ghana.

“We are all very disappointed with the way we lost a game which we controlled and were the better team but such is football.

“We went for a recovery training this morning (yesterday) for those players who featured in the game and a full session for those who did not play and we noticed that they were so down.

“But we have told them in as much as it is painful we still have to look ahead and try to finish this tournament on a high note by beating Nigeria.

“Although we did not make it to the final we still have one more game to play and our pride to play for too so, for now, we have to quickly put away all the disappointment and keep our focus on the third place play-off then we can look back at the whole tournament,’’ Pasuwa said.

The Warriors assistant coach also revealed that they were some injury worries on skipper Partson Jaure, left wingback Milton Ncube who has a groin strain and midfielder Ali Sadiki and said the team’s medical pair of doctor Nick Munyonga and physiotherapist Farai Muguwe would make further assessments on the extent of the injuries today.

Meanwhile, the 2014 CHAN continued to scale new heights with the tournament being hosted by South Africa being rated the best since the inception of the competition in Cote d’Ivoire in 2009.

At the end of the semi-finals 30 matches had been played with 72 goals being scored.
Earlier in the week, the CHAN Local Organising committee held a second review of the competition with chief executive, Mvuzo Mbebe, telling the media afterwards that he had been thoroughly impressed that the CHAN competition had lived up to its billing as “Africa’s Home Champions’’.

Mbebe said the number of goals scored up to the semi-final stage and the quality of the competition on show in this year’s CHAN tournament had made it outstanding.

“Standing at a record total of 72 goals being scored after 28 matches, the Orange CHAN 2014 is currently averaging at 2.6 goals per match, an impressive record compared to the recently held AFCON 2013 with its 2.16 goals scored for the whole tournament.
“The quality and commitment from the players eager to lift their nations’ flags high up into the African skies is testimony to outstanding display of pure African football talent.”

The Warriors, who got off to a slow start with two goalless draws against Morocco and Uganda, finally broke their duck against Burkina Faso, winning 1-0, to advance to the quarter-finals where they left many pundits stunned after upstaging fancied Mali 2-1.
Few people had given Ian Gorowa and his men a chance to go beyond the group stages let alone reach the semi-finals.

It is also the first time that the Warriors have gone beyond the group stage of any Confederation of African Football tournament. The LOC also celebrated the fact that three of the coaches in charge of the semi-finalists — Stephen Keshi of Nigeria, Maxwell Konadu (Ghana) and Gorowa (Zimbabwe) — are locals while only Libya had a foreign mentor.

“CHAN has affirmed Caf’s vision of celebrating Africa’s Home Champions where locally-based players are given the opportunity to showcase to the world their talent.

“Football lovers have also witnessed some exciting talent emerging during this period with the likes of Nigerian sensation, Christantus Uzoenyi, who has been a livewire for the West Africans, scoring three vital goals.

“Young Zimbabwean shot-stopper, George Chigova, has been outstanding with him only conceding a solitary goal for the Warriors.
“Abdelsalam Omar has also been in fine form for Libya, hitting the back of the net three times while Richard Mpong’s consistent performance has been instrumental in the Ghanaian team’’.