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Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
WARRIORS striker Cuthbert Malajila has insisted that there will be more than pride at stake when they face Bafana Bafana in a Battle of the Limpopo international friendly at Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg tonight.The showdown between the Southern African rivals kicks-off at 8:30pm.
Zimbabwe and South Africa desperately need to win to gain some atonement for the disappointment of having failed to progress to the final round of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.
The Warriors had an even more horrible campaign, which ended in the same disappointing fashion they started, with Zimbabwe anchoring Group G and completing the qualifiers without a win for the first time in 25 years.
For Malajila and a host of his countrymen, who ply their trade in the ABSA Premiership, tonight’s encounter is “one match that we should never lose at all costs’’.
Malajila, speaking after the Warriors held their training session at the match venue last night, revealed that coach Ian Gorowa would have little trouble motivating the players as everyone was already geared up for the match.
“There is a strong rivalry between Zimbabwe and South Africa and it is known among the players, the supporters and everyone who follows matches between our two countries.
“If there is one team that we as the Warriors would never want to lose to then it is Bafana Bafana, especially for all the players who are based here in South Africa.
“If we were to lose to Bafana Bafana, it would be unbearable at our club training sessions so we want to retain the bragging rights and that means we have to fight throughout the game. We just have to play to win this one,’’ Malajila said.
The new Mamelodi Sundowns man also predicted a close affair when the two sides square off tonight.
“We know their strong points and their weak points and we just have to try and capitalise on their weak points and use them to our advantage,’’ Malajila said.
“There is a new coach and as players we have to impress him. He has told us what he wants and for us we have to prove to him that we deserve to be considered for the national team but really the last thing that we would want to do is to lose to South Africa and it is something we have been talking about from the day the game was confirmed.
“We just have to take play with a gear up’’.
The former Dynamos, Highlanders and Chapungu hitman also revealed that he was still finding his feet at Mamelodi Sundowns despite having scored on his debut.
“I am still settling at Sundowns, we have played three games so far then we had this break which has also gave us time to reorganise and look at some of the areas where we have been a bit weak,’’ Malajila said.
Malajila is one of eight players from the ABSA Premiership who have been called up for this game as Gorowa begins the long journey of indentifying his potential 2015 Nations Cup squad.
The other South African-based players in the side include Malajila’s club mate Khama Billiat, Warriors strike partners and Kaizer Chiefs pair of Knowledge Musona and Kingston Nkatha, big AmaZulu centre back Carlington Nyadombo and goalkeeper Washington Arubi.
Musona was on target, striking brace in the last time that the Warriors and Bafana Bafana met in an international friendly at Rufaro two years ago.
Norman Mapeza was in charge of the Warriors then while Pitso Mosimane was the Bafana Bafana gaffer.
Now the duo of Gordon Igesund for Bafana Bafana and Ian Gorowa for the Warriors are in charge and both men made a number of changes to the squads they used in their respective team’s final World Cup matches.
With the CHAN tournament, scheduled for South Africa in January, the main focus, Igesund and Gorowa have opted to use mostly home-based talent.
Nyadombo also spoke about how the Warriors were geared up for tonight’s clash.
“Whenever South Africa plays against Zimbabwe it’s never an easy game for both teams because we are neighbours and we know each other very well,” Nyadombo told the media in South Africa.
“Looking at the players in the South African team, it’s mostly players that we see week in and week out in the PSL and we know their strengths and their weaknesses.
“It’s not going to be an easy game but I’m expecting it to be an entertaining match because we play similar types of football.”
Bafana Bafana fullback Marc Van Heerden was also of a similar view.
“It’s going to be a different game compared to the last game I played against Burkina Faso because I’m expecting Zimbabwe to be more pro-active going forward, so it could be an open game,” he said.
“Obviously both teams know each other very well and they’ve got some good players in their team and it’s probably going to be a tightly-contested encounter with a lot of players who want to prove themselves.”
Online Reporter