Online Reporter
Tadious Manyepo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
MARIAN “Mario” Marinica has asked the Warriors to be more direct in the attacking third when they play Qatar in an international friendly at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha this evening.
It will be the Romanian gaffer’s second assignment in charge of Zimbabwe after losing his first match; another friendly against Algeria 1-3 in Saudi Arabia last Thursday.
But there were positives to pick from that game especially the second half showing in which the Warriors outdid the Desert Foxes in almost all aspects of play.
Marinica is a proponent of fluidity and that’s what he wants to see against The Maroons this evening.
He said: “We want to play a little bit more forward,
we want to hold the ball as much as possible, but with the purpose of going forward and try to make it, you know, when you have the chance to take an opportunity, to take more shots, to create more scoring opportunity, and obviously to score goals, like we did in the second half (against Algeria).
“First of all, it’s about pride and it’s about representing the country, it’s about the colours of the country, it’s about, you know, people back home, so we have to play for them, even though it’s a friendly, but we have to use this as a dress rehearsal
for what is going to happen later (at the AFCON).
“You know we are playing a very good team, they are champions of Asia, for a reason, they are, you know, really a good team, but I think it would be a very good exercise for us to go forward.”
Amid a barrage of social media attacks he faced last week with bloggers saying he had lost the dressing room, Marinica said: “Unfortunately, I’m a little bit like, you know, old fashioned, I don’t read the media, I don’t try to read the social media before the matches, because I don’t want to be distracted with that.
“But I think, as you know, sometimes there’s a lot of toxic information, whatever, you know, maybe some people may have different agenda.
“Obviously, sometimes maybe, you know, a little bit of disagreement here and there, but, you know, I think they (the Warriors) are very much united and they are very much together for this.
“They understood the purpose, and they understood their objectivity towards going, you know, to AFCON to create history.
“I don’t think that there’s any truth whatsoever in anything, whatever, you know”.
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