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ESTEEMED followers of the game of football, thank you for finding time for interaction.
Our dearly loved national team, the Warriors, presented their local following with a perfect Easter holidays present when they walloped Swaziland 4-0 at the National Sports Stadium in a 2017 Africa Cup of Nations Group L qualifier on Monday. The crushing defeat put a glowing smile on the fans’ faces, long starved of success on the continental front.
The victory was worth its whole weight in gold for the fact that it saw the Warriors made a quantum leap in their quest for qualification by opening up a 3-point lead at the summit of the group following Malawi’s 1-2 defeat at home to Guinea.
Also, that it came at home, against the then joint table-topping Sihlangu made the victory all the sweeter.
A set of full points and four goals in qualifiers is not a bad return by any measure and Warriors coach, Callisto Pasuwa has conceded as much.
Gamechanger takes this opportunity to congratulate Pasuwa, his technical staff as as well as the players for that fine wine! You have all made us very proud.
Let Yours Truly at this juncture categorically put it that the instalment for this week is to purely purr and coo about one of the finest moments about the Warriors as their seized control of proceedings in the group by dislodging Swaziland and assuming pole position in emphatic style.
And Gamechanger gleefully rubbed his hands in delight, as the Warriors appeared to have responded to his rallying cry “Goals, Warriors, Goals” as our gold-shirted boys put Swaziland to the sword with ruthless execution in a 45-minute blitzkrieg.
Yes, it is still very much game on, like the concluding line of this column always states and reminds all true friends of the game, but then, wearing a patriotic hat, the Warriors deserve all the kudos that come and go with Monday’s well deserved win.
While the group is still far from being won, opening up that crucial 3-points cushion, and plundering in goals at this critical stage of the group qualifiers is just what the doctor has ordered and will provide perfect tonic for the Warriors going into the remainder of the fixtures as we seek to douse the Flames of Malawi at home in June and stalk the Stallions of Guinea for a kill away in Conakry in September.
Yes, we have not won the group and qualified yet, but have perfectly placed ourselves at the summit and are in good pose for qualification. Destiny is now firmly in our own hands and we have to decide our own fate. Surely, we can’t let this slip away. We can’t have come this far to falter at the last minute.
We are now in fine form and have to keep the gathered momentum going, be steadfast and keep it together for the rest of the qualifiers.
We have to make up for the Chan disappointment by making it to Afcon and the prospects look even brighter.
Yes, fans have been disappointed before, but this is the moment to rally behind the team as they have really made up ground in the group. If we all believe, then we can fight and achieve.
While there may be some Naysayers still nursing that niggling feeling of doubt about our qualification coming to fruition, Gamechanger has a positive vibe about this campaign.
And Yours Truly took Zimbabwe’s crucial double-header against Swaziland on a figurative level.
The Warriors took a lot of stick for a rather tame show away in Mbabane last Friday and we, as disappointed fans, cruelly crucified them on that Easter Friday.
But our boys, perhaps driven by the desire to stay in contention and win the group majestically rose on Easter Monday to keep their dream of qualification alive.
And still on the Warriors, because there were a lot of talking points, Yours Truly feels it would be unfair to condense it all in one instalment and will, therefore, next week share on this platform his appreciation of the Warriors’ performance against Sihlangu over the two legs.
Until that time we invade Gabon for Afcon next year, it remains “Goals, Warriors, Goals” and “Go, Warriors, Go”!
The colour is gold, Dr Chiyangwa and Sir Wicknell
Perhaps the gloss was taken off the Warriors’ good outing by Zifa president, Dr Philip Chiyangwa and the association’s chief benefactor, Wicknell Chivayo, whom Gamechanger feels should have both put on replica jerseys of the national team as did many fans on the terraces. It is Yours Truly’s humble submission that Dr Chiyangwa could have at least hand-held Chivayo and lead him down the path of patriotism by draping themselves in the golden colours of the Warriors just to trumpet their full support for the team.
Pulling on those golden shirts, our boys delivered a golden victory.
As El Classico appears on the horizon…
Barcelona and Real Madrid will tomorrow (Saturday) renew their traditional rivalry and Gamechanger will share some trivia on one of the world’s biggest fixtures:
This will be 80th El Classico played at the Camp Nou and here are the stats in the previous 79: 44 wins, 17 draws, 18 losses, 138 goals scored and 95 conceded
Real Madrid’s previous five managers have all lost their first El Classico. French legend Zinedine Zidane will be charge of his first to Barcelona as Real Madrid coach.
259 different players have scored in El Classico history, with Luis Suarez being the last one.
The only players still at the two clubs from the El Classico 10 years ago are Sergio Ramos and Andreas Iniesta.
Weird but true EPL fact
Did you know that the English Premier League’s current bottom three teams have won more top-flight championship titles than the current top three?
Leicester City, Tottenham (two, 1950-51 and 1960-61) and Arsenal (13) have a combined total of 15, while bottom club Aston Villa (seven, their last coming in 1980-81) and fellow strugglers Newcastle (four) and Sunderland (six) have accounted for an overall 17 titles in the league’s entire history.
Feedback:
The first cut is the deepest; Warriors must score early goals than wait to concede and then hurry to get an equaliser. Leaving it to the last minute is costly. Score, Warriors, score! – Crispen Tendai Masenhu.
It’s Game On, Play On!
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