Warriors, Chipolopolo clash at Cosafa

Bruce Chikuni in PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa

WARRIORS midfielder Richard Hachiro believes progressing to the next round of the Cosafa Cup will be a bigger achievement than their famed 2018 success in the regional tournament, where they won their fifth silverware.

Port Elizabeth will come to a standstill this afternoon when the regional giants, Zambia and Zimbabwe, square off at Wolson Stadium.

Chipolopolo are the big brothers of this competition as they have won it two times more than the Warriors.

However, they have endured a disastrous start to life in this edition as they were thumped 0-2 by the tournament’s guests, Kenya, in their opening fixture.

Hachiro, a hard-tackling anchorman, is the only surviving member from the squad that last secured the competition’s gold medal six years ago in Polokwane, South Africa. After securing their fifth crown, the Warriors have been a big letdown in the regional competition despite still being considered to be in the heavyweight category. Zambia will also not be comfortable with the presence of Warriors technical director Sunday Chidzambwa, who was recently honoured by Cosafa with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his services to coaching.

Chidzambwa is a record four-time Cosafa Cup winner and Warriors coach, Jairosi Tapera, will be banking on his tournament’s experience and success.

Hachiro told Zimpapers Sports Hub that it will be unfair to expect the current squad to replicate the Warriors’ 2018 success.

He argued that it appeared a light mission for the 2018 squad because they had stars like Khama Billiat, the late George Chigova, Ovidy Karuru, Alec Mudimu, Marshall Munetsi, Tinotenda Kadewere, Talent Chawapiwa, Ovidy Karuru and Devine Lunga.

“I’m forever grateful that I was part of the squad that last won the Cosafa Cup, and that I have also been given a chance to prove what I can do again,” he said.

“It’s not easy and I’m grateful to God, but I don’t think if you take a close look at the squad that we had six years ago you can expect the current crop to do the same.

“This is a youthful squad. I think the majority of the players donned the Warriors jersey for the first time when we won against Comoros. It’s totally different when you look at the group of players that we had when we won the tournament last time.”

Hachiro said the Warriors were still motivated to make names for themselves.

“Many players have made names through this tournament and that is what the coaches have been telling us, we are all trying the best we can to help the cause of our team,” he said.

“We might not be as magical as the last group that won the tournament for Zimbabwe, but everyone is desperate to make that happen. Everyone is pushing hard to make the nation proud and a positive result will be enough for us to book our slot in the next round of the tournament and, in my view, that will be as good as winning the tournament, especially considering that this team is full of debutants.”

Tapera hinted that he was likely not going to stick to the team that floored Comoros last Thursday for tactical reasons.

“I’m very impressed with the determination which the boys are showing, and I’m also pleased with the way they responded to our tactical approach in our first assignment,” he said.

“But we have seen Zambia playing and that means we are going to make some additions to exploit their weaknesses.

“We are still considering the options that we have in our camp, and I just hope the boys will adjust to the tactical changes which we are going to make. We can’t play the same way we did against Comoros.”

Tapera said the match against Zambia was a derby.

“This makes it even more difficult for us to say a lot because matches of this magnitude are unpredictable,” he said. “It’s about who wants it more and it’s also going to be difficult to play a side who are coming into the match on the back of a loss.

“They are the defending champions and I’m sure they are going to do everything they can to avoid an early exit, but we are not looking much into that.

“I have been telling the boys the significance of taking each game as it comes and from what I have seen, they are raring to go.”

Zimbabwe will play their final group match against Kenya on Tuesday.