adminLawrence Moyo in CAPE TOWN, South Africa
ALL it needed was one special goal for the Warriors to walk into the history books and evolve from being representatives of Zimbabwe only into football ambassadors, of the entire region, as the only team carrying the Southern African flame in the African Championship of Nations.
On Saturday, the Warriors “host” a Mali side that is still in the tournament at the expense of fancied South Africa and talk around Cape Town since Monday night was that Ian Gorowa and his men have ceased to be a Zimbabwean side, but a Cosafa representative.
Victory against Burkina Faso in the final Group B match at Athlone on Monday night meant the Warriors became the only team from the region to go beyond the group stage as the other two — Mozambique and South Africa — crashed at the very first hurdle.
It was the first time Zimbabwe, an ever-present feature at the tournament, progressed past the first round after a winless campaign in the inaugural 2009 finals in Cote d’ Ivoire, where they drew all their three group matches, and one win in the 2011 CHAN finals edition in Sudan.
Despite having the worst scoring record at the CHAN finals, since making their debut five years ago, the Warriors became the first team to progress to the knock-out stage after failing to score in their opening two group matches.
The Warriors joined Senegal as the only teams to have progressed beyond the first round after scoring just one goal in three group matches.
Goalkeeper George Chigova and his defence of captain Partson Jaure, Milton Ncube, Eric Chipeta and Hardlife Zvirekwi are also on the verge of history.
They are one of only two defences NOT to have conceded a goal in the first round of the 2014 tournament.
The other team, Gabon, whom the Warriors beat 2-0 in a CHAN pre-tournament friendly international in Johannesburg, will only complete their first round matches today.
They say a razor-sharp strike force wins you games but a rock-solid defence can win you championships and tournaments and the Warriors, on the evidence of how they have performed defensively in the past three games, are on the right path to use their defensive prowess to be successful here.
Before the match, the Warriors coaches had hinted on not tinkering with the non-scoring team but come match day there were FOUR changes to the team that drew 0-0 with Uganda in the second match.
And the changes worked wonders for Gorowa and his lieutenants.
Masimba Mambare started for the first time and scored the all-important winner early in the second half, despite having spent the entire first half being targeted by boo-boys, among the Zimbabwean fans, who wanted him replaced.
Lively midfielder, Peter “Rio” Moyo, featured in his first match and was impressive with his lovely first touch, sudden change of pace, deceptive runs and control of the vital midfield department although he needs to do better in terms of his finishing after missing two glorious chances to put the game to bed.
Rio was named man-of-the-match after an outstanding display at the heart of the Warriors midfield in which he was involved in all the crucial moments as the team attacked in search of a goal.
An outstanding playmaker at Highlanders, Rio would even throw his body on the line to win crucial tackles as Burkina Faso sought to hit the Warriors on the counter attack.
The other two changes were Charles Sibanda, who did little to justify his presence in the first XI and How Mine’s Simba Sithole, who was, however, unpopular with the fans as they demanded his substitution as early as the first half.
But that was always going to be the danger of introducing a new striker at such a demanding stage of the first round stage.
The changes were made for players who had been under attack for blowing chances in the Warriors’ first two matches –Dynamos’ Simba Sithole, FC Platinum’s Donald Ngoma and Ali Sadiki.
Gorowa was bold to make the numerous changes and there were no complaints from the 7500 spectators who were in the stadium, almost all of them rallying behind Zimbabwe.
There is a significant number of Zimbabweans in and around Cape Town, some of them at universities in the area, and they have been turning out in numbers at the Warriors’ matches.
What made Zimbabwe’s victory all important was the demise of South Africa the previous day when they were being tipped to go as far as the final.
There was so much hope on Gordon Igesund’s Bafana Bafana that their exit sparked an unprecedented attack on the team by South Africa Sports Minister, Fikile Mbalula who called the team “a bunch of losers.”
It was headline front page news in most newspapers in South Africa yesterday and Igesund’s future as Bafana Bafana coach is now in serious doubt.
Barring Orlando Pirates, SuperSport United and overseas-based players, it was basically an A-side with stars who featured in the 2010 Fifa World Cup finals.
And South Africa had wanted to use the CHAN finals to further improve their rankings for future Caf, Fifa draws and also the ability to attract quality opposition for international friendly matches.
Online Reporter