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Gutu, who is an orphan having also lost his father, headed home a 70th minute winner from a Norman Maroto cross against the Black Stars at Wad Medani Stadium.
It was a rare headed goal by the talented Dynamos midfielder and it was his first in Warriors’ colours since he made his senior team debut in November 2008.
Ironically Archieford’s mother, Shupi Muchena, died a day after the Mbare-born midfielder had made his Warriors debut in a 2-0 winning cause against South Africa at Rufaro in a final CHAN qualifier.
Gutu has since played seven more games for the Warriors since Sunday Chidzambwa, then Warriors coach, handed him a start in that win over South Africa, which sealed a place for Zimbabwe at the inaugural CHAN tournament in Cote d’ Ivoire in 2009.
Although he did not play in any of the three group matches in Cote d’Ivoire, which the Warriors drew against Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo and Libya, he was still happy to have made it to the final 23 as he was still learning the ropes while Chidzambwa opted to use the experience of Mtshumayeli Moyo at the tournament.
Two years later, Gutu has turned himself into the Warriors’ playmaker at this year’s edition of the tournament which is reserved only for those players playing in the leagues of their countries of birth.
Gutu is a reserved character who rarely makes public statements about his profession, preferring instead to let his football do the talking and, despite the build-up to his tour of duty having been tainted by the controversy and the questions over his age, he has remained as strong as he is focused on helping his country.
The former Ajax Cape Town midfielder is also a member of the national Under-23 that is eyeing a place at the All-Africa Games in Mozambique in September.
But for now Gutu’s focus is on helping his class of Warriors to write their own piece of history by becoming the first senior national team to qualify to the knockout stage of a major Pan-African tournament.
On Wednesday night on a hard and patchy field in Wad Medani, Gutu emerged the Warriors’ hero with a powerful header that gave Ghana goalkeeper Adjei no chance as he timed his run into the box to meet Maroto’s cross from the right.
Gutu was so overcome with emotion and revealed afterwards that he dedicated the goal to his late mother who was a big inspiration to him.
He also told The Herald that he always thinks of his mother whenever he prepares for a match and said that he always wears a T-shirt inscribed “Rest In Peace Mum’’ underneath his jersey.
Gutu would have wanted to lift his jersey and reveal the words on the T-shirt but on his finest night for the Warriors to date, he could not do so because Angolan referee Helder Martins de Carvalho had ordered him to take it off before the match.
“I felt so happy to score that goal, it was my first Warriors goal and coming against a big team like Ghana made it special for me.
“It is now my eighth game for the Warriors but I will remember this game for a long time because it was the first time I scored for the senior team.
“It was also an emotional time for me and I dedicate the goal to my late mother and wished she would have been around to watch the moment.
“I had worn a T-shirt inscribed Rest in Peace Mum’’ but the referee directed that I take it of because it was white in colour and yet we were wearing gold jerseys.
“I always wear that T-shirt for her whenever I play and I would have loved to lift my jersey and show the t-shirt when I scored against Ghana,’’ Gutu said.
Three years ago Gutu could also not celebrate his debut for the Warriors with his mother as she died a day after his first match.
Sadly for him on Wednesday night, and thousands of kilometres away from his home in Mbare, he could only share his joy with his teammates and members of the Zimbabwe delegation in Sudan.
Gutu also said he had been somewhat surprised to score with a header.
“I am not so good at heading but when I saw the cross coming I had to make sure I ran in the direction from where the ball was coming which I think also helped deceive the goalkeeper but to make sure I also had to put some power behind the ball.
“I sometimes score such goals at training but in a game it is very rare’’.
He also spoke about the pressure under which the Warriors played against Ghana.
“Against Niger we had pressure to start the campaign with a win and we were too eager to score but in the end we lost a lot of chances and the game.
“This put us under more pressure for the Ghana game but the fact that Ghana had also lost to South Africa helped to give us some confidence that they could be beaten and we knew we had to do it on our own.
“Now we are looking forward to playing South Africa and hopefully we can win again and qualify. We know that it might come down to goal difference to decide who qualifies from our group but we should not put ourselves under pressure to score a lot of goals.
“I am happy that we will now play our on a better pitch which should help us to play our normal game. We know how South Africa play and their goalkeeper was in Zimbabwe for the Cosafa Cup in 2009,’’ Gutu said.
Gutu’s roommate and close friend Denver Mukamba has backed his Warriors and Young Warriors teammate to continue excelling at this tournament and also revealed his disappointment at not having also scored in only his second game for the senior team.
Former Kiglon midfielder Mukamba, who is set to reunite with Gutu at Dynamos this season, had two close opportunities to beat Adjei but the Ghana goalkeeper first saved his curling shot in the 72nd minute before he fluffed his best chance when hurried his effort 10 minutes later with Adjei already beaten.
It was a good opportunity to kill off the game and help the Warriors better their goal difference.
Mukamba acknowledged as much and said he was still blaming himself “for not taking my chances’’.
“I blame myself for my second chance in the game when the Ghana defender (Awidu Nafiu) failed to clear the ball and it fell to me, those are chances that one should be burying and I hope to do better next time.
“The good thing is we won against Ghana and we have our confidence back now but we should not underestimate South Africa,’’ Mukamba said.
With coach Madinda Ndlovu not likely to tinker much with his team, Gutu and Mukamba should play another big role against South Africa at Al-Hilal Stadium tomorrow night.
Online Reporter