Warriors in must-win tie

Lawrence Moyo and Petros Kausiyo in CAPE TOWN, South Africa
ZIMBABWE coach Ian “Dibango” Gorowa and his skipper, Partson Jaure, have erased the pain of their frustrating opening 2014 Chan tie against Morocco, in which they fluffed a host of gilt-edged chances, and turned their focus on the must-win tie against Uganda at Athlone Stadium on Thursday.

Striker Donald Ngoma had a nightmare, in front of goal, somehow heading wide a free header from close range and then following that up with an incredible miss when he found himself with a yawning net in front of him but miscued horribly in what will compete well for the Miss of The Tournament.

Another forward, Ali Sadiki, also fluffed his lines on a number of occasions and was guilty of rushing his effort, when the ball rebounded favourably into his path, after Simba Sithole’s close-range effort had crashed against the upright.

Gorowa badly missed rangy forward, Tendai Ndoro, the Golden Boot winner in the domestic Premiership last year, who became ineligible for this tournament after signing for Mpumalanga Black Aces in South Africa. With Uganda beating Burkina Faso 2-1 in their opening game on Sunday night, they fancy their chances of progressing into the next round as they need to avoid defeat in the remaining matches against Zimbabwe and Morocco.

It was the first win at the Chan finals for Uganda, who are making their second appearance at the tournament reserved for home-based players.

They have actually equalled Zimbabwe’s win at Chan as the Warriors’ only success is the 1-0 victory over Ghana at the 2011 finals in Sudan although the Warriors have played at every Chan finals.

The Warriors’ goalless draw against Morocco means they must beat Uganda and eliminate them from the battle for a top two finish as any other result will leave destiny out of Zimbabwe’s hands.

Gorowa, Jaure and winger Sadiki are all confident that the Warriors have what it takes to collect maximum points against Uganda and put themselves in control of their destiny come next week Monday when the group is decided. Gorowa was satisfied with the goalless draw as he felt it was a match against the group, if not tournament, favourites.

“We wanted to win hey but it’s not easy playing against Morocco. So I think under the circumstances it’s an acceptable result although we didn’t take our chances,” said Gorowa.

“I thought we should have won. Also you could see Morocco are probably the favourites but the boys put up a good fight.
“So on one hand (I’m) satisfied and on the other not satisfied because we could have won that game.”

Gorowa feels his men, especially the forwards, could have been victims of nerves which usually creep in during the first games of such tournaments.

“The first game is always a problem, there are always nerves within the players and now that the first game is out of the window the players know exactly what to do and what to expect and we can only get better in a tournament,” said Gorowa.

“Uganda are a good team, very organised. I know Milutin (Sredojevic), the way he wants to play. So it will be a very interesting game but I think we should have an advantage. Every game is a must-win, even for them (Uganda). This group is tough; except probably for Burkina

Faso, but again you never know when they play Morocco they also have to win.
“So, I think, in this group probably Uganda, ourselves and Morocco are in must-win situations.”
The Warriors had opportunities to win Sunday’s opener against Morocco but missed three good chances, and such was their dominance, especially in the second half, the Atlas Lions created just one opportunity from a breakaway chance.

Jaure felt they did well to match Morocco.
“The boys played very well considering that Morocco are heavyweights in African football,” said the skipper who handled his leadership role, in his first competitive game as skipper, very well.

“Also, the other problem is that even the coaches had no idea what to expect from Morocco and it made it difficult to plan.
“In the end we were actually disappointed that we didn’t win because we had the chances to score.
“We learnt lessons on Sunday, especially how to react.

“Uganda is a good team, we must never underrate them. If we are to beat them then we have to put 100 percent effort. Our chances of going beyond the first round are very good and we just have to be positive.

“The good thing is that we are solid at the back. We have problems with finishing but it should not be a big deal because it’s all about confidence and I believe everything will be in order when we play Uganda on Thursday.”
One of those “misses” was by veteran, Sadiki, who shot straight at a sprawling Morocco goalkeeper after Sithole’s effort hit the upright midway through the second half.

“The rebound came to me quicker than I expected and I never had time to think,” said Sadiki.
“All I wanted was to hit the target but then the keeper reacted quicker. Then the second chance I got later in the game I just wanted to try.
“Sometimes you play and play but without attempting to hit the target. So I just felt I should try.”

Looking back at the game, Sadiki says Morocco were a very good, solid team.
“They are a very good team, they have confidence and they understand each other very well, they are quick but we fought very hard,” said Sadiki.

“Uganda are a good team but they are not as good as Morocco. Of course, we cannot underrate any team in this tournament but I think we will fight and win that game.”

On the issue of poor finishing, Sadiki said they will work on the problem in time for the Uganda match.
“Our finishing is not that bad. Yes we missed chances against Morocco but if you look back at our previous matches, we managed to score so it’s something that can be rectified quickly.
“We are not that bad.”

Meanwhile Zimbabwe’s brave draw against Morocco in their opening African Nations Championships tie has won them the admiration of Ugandan coach Milutin “Micho’’ Sredojevic with the Serbian rating the Warriors as the favourites to top Group B.
The Warriors missed a number of very close chances to settle for a 0-0 draw against the Atlas Lions at Athlone Stadium here on Sunday before Uganda turned on the style to overcome Burkina Faso 2-1 in the other group game at the same venue.

Yesterday, both Zimbabwe and Uganda put behind their Sunday night results and shifted their focus to their showdown on Thursday with either side having mid-morning workouts to start preparations for the encounter. Despite his Cranes getting off to a flying start Micho insisted, it was the Warriors who were the favourites to top the group or, at least, finish among the top two teams and proceed to the quarter-finals.
The former Orlando Pirates and Al Hilal coach, who has also seen duty with the Rwanda national team, said he had been impressed by the Warriors after assessing the first eight teams to swing into action in the opening two days of the Chan tournament.

Micho saluted the Warriors for their work ethic and reckoned that “they are a team with balance, experience and tactical awareness’’.
The Cranes, making their second appearance are aiming to do better this time around following a poor debut at the 2011 tournament in Sudan where they finished pointless. Zimbabwe now stand in the way of a bid for a 100 percent record for Uganda in Group B when the two teams clash on Thursday.

But Micho who insisted yesterday that the Cranes were under no illusions about the tough task they face against the Warriors claimed that he had seen enough quality in the Warriors before and during their game against Morocco to be convinced that they posed the toughest hurdle for his charges.

“Since I came to Africa, I knew Zimbabwe as the breadbasket of the region and I have had respect for the country,” said Micho.
“I call Zimbabwe the African football garden because of the enormous talent that has come out of this country.
“Zimbabwe provides the highest number of foreign players in the South African League which speaks volumes about the talent in the country and before they came to this tournament, they sent Zambia packing and that speaks a lot about the quality of this team,” Micho said.