adminNoel Munzabwa in Mbabane, Swaziland
Swaziland……. (0)1
Guinea…….. 0
A SABELO SIKHALI NDZINISA 46th minute strike handed Zimbabwe the ticket to their third Africa Cup of Nations soccer finals dance as Swaziland downed Guinea in a Group L match at Somhlolo here yesterday.
While Ndzinisa’s strike gave Sihlangu the three points, rekindling hope for a maiden AFCON dance perhaps as one of the two-best runners-up, it is Zimbabwe who sealed the top spot with a 3-0 win over Malawi at the National Sports Stadium in Harare yesterday.
After a lacklustre goalless opening half, coupled by series of missed chances for both teams, it was Sihlangu coach Harries Madze Bulunga who seemed to have breathed a lease of life into his troops.
Right from the resumption, captain Tony Tsabedze released Felix Badenhorst on the flank who deceived his marker with a deft run before squaring for Ndzinisa who obliged with power for the winner.
If anything these are the goals that have earned him the nicknames “Sikhali” and “Bazooka”; and for years to come Zimbabwe coach Callisto Pasuwa will tell the tale of this result which won him iconic status in the history of the Warriors.
For Guinea’s stand-in coach Mohammed Bangoura this will be a goal that will haunt him and his lads for years of the futile qualifying campaign. After all, this is the same country whose Titi Camara-led side denied Zimbabwe qualification for the Afcon finals more than 20 years ago.
“We wasted our chances and this is football and it’s cruelty,” said Bangoura after yesterday’s match.
And indeed for the Warriors, Ndzinisa struck the revenge on their behalf.
If Swaziland eventually qualifies as one of the two second-best group finishers, this will be the goal that coach Bulunga will remember for reshaping that destiny especially after the disastrous 0-4 knock at the hands of Zimbabwe on Easter Monday this year.
“We remain focused for our last match against Malawi and who knows we could make it. Congratulations to Zimbabwe for winning the group,” said Bulunga.
With this win, Sihlangu completed a historic double over Guinea with the corresponding 2-1 win in Morocco in the group opener, leaving Bulunga unbeaten in any qualifying match played at Somhlolo.
Sierra Leone was the first to come in 2014 for an AFCON qualifier and managed a 1-1 draw before being held to another 1-1 drawn by Angola in the CHAN qualifier.
Nigeria fought for a goalless World Cup qualifier draw with Zimbabwe’s Good Friday 1-1 Group L qualifier being the fourth qualifier Bulunga took charge.
Sihlangu’s last qualifier home defeat was under the Belgian coach Vallery Billen and came on the 23rd of June 2013, another CHAN qualifier — 0-1 to Angola.
Seychelles were the last AFCON qualifiers victors with a resounding 3-0 win on January 15, 2012 completing a 6-0 aggregate victory.
And yesterday the day had begun with a pregnancy of hope but the home side almost suffered any early setback two minutes into the match with goalkeeper Sabelo Ginindza mopping up a defensive mess.
Just as Knowledge Musona was converting a penalty in Harare, Sihlangu’s Badenhorst was skying his curling free-kick just inches off the horizontal bar mark.
With the hosts now dictating pace, Badenhorst, a rumoured Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs target, was to miss the left and right upright in the 21st and 23rd minutes respectively.
After the breather Badenhorst preferred to supply getting Ndzinisa off the block seconds into the closing half.
From then on the match became a tale of missed Ndzinisa’s chances till the final whistle which obviously sparked more celebrations in Zimbabwe.
So wild were the celebrations at Somhlolo soon after the final whistle but as news from Zimbabwe that the Warriors convincingly beat Malawi in the same group yesterday put a damper to this.
For Guinea it will go down as an administrative crisis which led to FIFA intervening with a normalisation committee coupled by financial challenges, depleted pool of players and substantive coach’s resignation crafted the defeat.
For now Warriors travel to Conakry in September in a last Group L match which is now a mere dead rubber while Sihlangu will need a convincing win in Blantyre against Malawi to qualify for the 2017 AFCON final as one of the best runners-up.
Online Reporter