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From Lawrence Moyo in CAPE Town, South Africa
WARRIORS coach Ian “Dibango” Gorowa will not put his strikers under pressure ahead of today’s must-win Group B clash with leaders Uganda in a CHAN first round match at Athlone Stadium. The match kicks-off at 5pm.Following Sunday’s goalless draw with Morocco and Uganda’s 2-1 win over Burkina Faso, the Warriors now must win today’s match if they are to retain hopes of qualifying to the quarter-finals for the first time in the history of this continental tournament.
Zimbabwe stand out as a regular, having reached all three finals of the tournament reserved for players who are still in the respective countries’ domestic leagues.
However, the Warriors also have the unwanted history of being eliminated in the first round and in seven matches now, they have just one victory — a 1-0 win over Ghana in the 2011 finals staged in Sudan.
That win came in the second game of the tournament and the Warriors will be hoping for a repeat today as any other result will leave destiny of the group in the hands of Uganda, Morocco and Burkina Faso.
Victory today will take Uganda through to the next round with six points regardless of the other three results from the group while the Warriors will now only be able to finish with four points if they beat Burkina Faso in the last group match next Monday.
The fact that Uganda go into today’s match fully aware that they just need to win and forget about group favourites Morocco, makes Gorowa’s challenge even trickier considering the missed chances in the opener against the Atlas Lions.
Uganda are making their second appearance at the Chan finals while the win over Burkina Faso was their first in the tournament.
Gorowa has resisted the temptation to read the riot act to his forwards, instead opting for a softer approach.
He believes putting pressure on the players will only make the situation worse.
“Sometimes you don’t want put them under pressure by saying win, win, win.
“You have to find the right way, right platform to encourage them to score goals.
“The problem is that if you do it wrongly, it gets into their heads wrongly and they will be under a lot of pressure.
“In the end they will miss chances because of that pressure. They know that we must win and we have to find a proper way of conveying that message,” he said.
Having studied video footage of Uganda, Gorowa is also against making changes to the team that started against Morocco.
“We went through (Uganda’s video footage) and what we saw we now know exactly what to expect.
“That’s why we had that video session with everyone.
“I know the team (Warriors starting line-up) that’s going to play.
“All we want is to score goals. In the first game, we played very well and the only problem was scoring goals.
“You cannot fix something that is not broken, nothing was broken. The only thing that needs improving is scoring, that’s it.
“They need the confidence of putting the ball into the back of the net.”
While FC Platinum’s Donald Ngoma missed two glorious opportunities against Morocco, he was playing from midfield alongside Kuda Mahachi, Danny Phiri and Pasca Manhanga while Ali Sadiki and Simba Sithole (Dynamos) were the forwards.
Manhanga was withdrawn at half-time and there is a possibility that his replacement and Soccer Star of the Year, Tawanda Muparati, might be given the nod to start.
How Mine’s Simba Sithole looked the sharpest at yesterday’s practice session and might play a role at some stage of today’s game.
Goalkeeper George Chigova looked to have recovered from an injury he picked up during Sunday’s game and looks definite to retain his place in the first X1.
Online Reporter