adminRay Bande Senior Reporter
WARRIORS’ skipper, Willard Katsande, believes the nation must now dwell on next month’s crucial Afcon assignment against Swaziland more than the recent Chan heartbreak in Rwanda. Zimbabwe face Swaziland in the third Group L Africa Cup of Nations qualifier late next month. Katsande said this as he added his voice to the growing chorus of solidarity with coach, Kallisto Pasuwa following the national team’s worst ever performance at African Nations Championships finals in Rwanda.
The former Highway FC and CPMZ Feruka player, who has captained a Warriors full strength squad in recent two crucial assignments, said the nation must focus more on the next assignment in Swaziland.
“I don’t think it will be wise for us to heap the blame on the coach and forget that we still have crucial assignments ahead of us. The team did not play to our expectations in Rwanda, but we should not throw the baby away with the water.
“After all, the coaches had nothing to do with those missed chances. We just did not have the luck. It is football and that is the way it can go. The team did its best. I could tell from the body language. They also wanted to win.
“Now that we got the result, we just have to live with it. We also have to focus more on the next assignment against Swaziland in a more crucial engagement.
The coaches and the players obviously learnt their lessons in Rwanda and it is up to them to improve on that. We actually need their experience as go forward,” said Katsande in an interview from his base in South Africa.
Pasuwa recently returned home after leading a band of locally based players to their most awful performance ever in the biennial tournament that is reserved for players plying their trade in their domestic leagues on the continent.
Zimbabwe Chan Class of 2016 squad finished bottom of their pool with just one point to show for their efforts after more than 270 minutes of play. The team lost their first two Group D matches by identical 1-0 score-lines and in similar circumstances against Zambia and Mali to bow out of the competition.
Be that as it may, Zimbabwe faces Swaziland after the Warriors missed a golden opportunity to seize the initiative in Group L of the 2017 Afcon qualifiers when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Guinea in Harare in September last year.
Memories of goalkeeper, Washington Arubi’s blunder handing the visitors an early lead are still vivid in the minds of many fans. Although the talismanic, Knowledge Musona, equalised 24 minutes into the game, the Warriors just could not find the winning goal.
Zimbabwe had gone into the match desperate for a win which would have handed them the initiative in Group L. Guinea for their part were also determined to avoid another slip-up after a surprise 1-2 loss at home to Swaziland in the opening round.
And the visitors were one-up two minutes in after Arubi struggled to control an awkward-looking back pass from midfielder, Danny Phiri, and Idrissa Sylla slammed home from close range.
The early setback stunned the estimated 35 000 fans who had packed Harare’s Rufaro Stadium, but Zimbabwe were soon warming up the atmosphere with some persistent offensive play.
Online Reporter