adminThree issues come to mind — were the tactics right, were the players options okay or was the decision to avail more players for selection made at the perfect moment?
The Angolans proceeded through to the finals with two goals scored in a pulsating six minutes of the match.
Hardly had the Zimbabweans settled that Angola came searching forcing three corner kicks in as many minutes of the game.
It could have been 1-0 in the opening 30 seconds had the Warriors not been saved by an effort that was cleared for a corner.
Coach Rahman Gumbo had advised his players to contain the pressure in the opening 10 minutes of the game as the home team cheered by a big crowd was obviously going to throw everything at them.
“I spoke to the boys repeatedly and warned them against relaxing in the opening minutes but unfortunately we were hit within that time spell.
“It was unfortunate that we conceded those two early goals, I have to give the boys credit for coming from the slumber to almost salvaging a good result away.
Zimbabwe had won the opening match 3-1 at Rufaro Stadium last month but the weekend result left the scores at 4-3 in favour of Angola on away goals rule.
Going into the match Gumbo did not want to defend as he felt that would weigh in favour of Angola as the Warriors would sit in their own half. So the trick was to have three strikers to pin the opponents in their own half.
In the absence of a grinding midfield defence, Gumbo who was spoilt for choice in his options, rued the absence of injured workaholic Oscar Machapa.
This allowed ageing Tinashe Nengomasha to take the anchorman’s role and the Kaizer Chiefs player failed to stamp his authority and did not command his team mates well often leaving the defence exposed once the Angolans came on a counter attack.
The three strikers Khama Billiat, Knowledge Musona and Cuthbert Malajila did not get good service of clean balls from Archie Gutu, Vusa Nyoni and Nengomasha.
It was no surprise that Malajila was pulled out but perhaps the better option was replacing Musona who had a nightmarish afternoon.
So many a time Zimbabwe had between four and five players not recovering well once they lost possession.
There was a hole in midfield always,especially in the second half when there was in most instances the defence and Nengomasha without any assistance in midfield in repelling enemy attacks.
The scoreline stayed what it is largely because of good goalkeeping by Ariel Sibanda who had three point blank efforts and two others cleared to safety by Noel Kaseke.
Esrom Nyandoro was in inspired form playing his heart out.
The plot was probably lost in not having two defence minded midfielders who are hard runners and tough tacklers.
Gumbo could have probably have done better with a mature and hard-tackling anchorman like Mthulisi Maphosa of Highlanders.
Gumbo refused to talk about his player selection.
The arrival of Malajila, Edward Sadomba, Kingstone Nkhata from Asiagate and Nengomasha from self-imposed exile did not add any glitter to the team’s play.
The players seemed not to have the hunger for goals as was the case with the team that beat Angola 3-1 in Harare last month.
They did not chase as much as would have been expected nor did they give the visitors’ defence a torrid time and the Angolan goalkeeper Lama was for the better part of the match bored in between the goalposts with no thing to do.
Many in the travelling party felt Zifa had failed the nation by availing more players. One fan said Gumbo might not have been monitoring some of the players imposed on him.
Leaving them out too would have exposed him to a barrage of criticism.
The coach had little time to plot his enemy’s downfall and while Manyucho was the toast of the Angolans, Zimbabwe’s Musona failed to justify the hype about his availability this time around.
The strikers appeared too much of overrated lads at their respective leagues.
Gutu and Billiat for all their fine running all afternoon were at times guilty of wrong options. At times they delayed their passing giving advantage to the opposition.
There was nothing of the Khama-Musona telepathic combination.
Gumbo said the battle was lost in Harare last month when the Warriors allowed the Angolans to score a goal.
“That away goal proved to be the difference. We should not have conceded that goal, we were made to pay for that and the boys played well especially in the second half,” said Gumbo.
It is back to the drawing board for Zifa and hopefully the hype created for this match will stay on for the team’s future international matches. The framework is there what is just needed is for the players to stick together and coaches to have a regular starting line-up so that players become used to each other.
Could there have been external forces in the way some of the players performed?
Zifa board member responsible for competitions Benedict Moyo said while the referee appeared to aid Angola’s cause, the Warriors could have done better.
“We let in two goals so early in the match. That unsettled the boys but we were happy to see them come from their slumber and taking the game to the home team,” said Moyo.
Almost 170 fans accompanied the team.
The party which travelled on a chartered Air Zimbabwe plane arrived in the capital yesterday morning with gloom engulfing the Harare International Airport unlike the jovial scenario when they took off to Angola with what appeared a healthy 3-1 lead.
The Warriors seemed to have both feet in the pool but an astonishing opening minutes display left the nation asking what really went wrong?
It was surprising in the plane that the very supporters who welcomed the return of the players who had been suspended or were on the Asiagate list, had turned against Gumbo.
Online Reporter