adminIshemunyoro Chingwere in Quatre Bornes, Mauritius
NEWLY-APPOINTED Warriors’ coach, Ian “Dibango” Gorowa, has praised the enthusiasm being displayed by the band of home-based Warriors who are here for a CHAN qualifier against Mauritius tomorrow at King George V Stadium. Gorowa, thrust into the hot seat after an uninspiring rebuilding exercise by Klaus Dieter Pagels, has been charmed by his charges and is confident all will fall in place for the success-starved Warriors.
Talking to the Saturday Herald, at the three-star Golden Crest Hotel, where according to manager Patrick Mutesva the team is being taken care of very well, the former Mamelodi Sundowns coach was primarily happy with the enthusiasm shown by his players. “There are a lot of positives for us to build on. Number one the boys are showing good attitude and that is exactly what you need.
“In as much as you can work on team tactics and everything, as long as the players are not up for it, it will always be difficult, these guys have been very receptive and are responding to training very well and am really impressed, I must say.
“Qualifying for CHAN will be very good for our players, they really need the exposure and with all due respect, I think we should be able to brush Mauritius aside, and probably the critical game for us will be against Zambia and Botswana in the next round,” said the former Dynamos and Warriors midfielder. The coach said while guarding against a surprise upset, by a side who rates a 2004 Cosafa Cup quarter-final placing as one of its best ever results, will be top on his agenda against Club M — as the hosts are fondly referred to.
“We need to be cautious, of course, but if there is an opportunity to hammer them we will do that and then probably experiment and try a few things when we go home, but a lot still needs to be done if we are to make it as a team.
“Training wise, there isn’t much we have done.
“Wednesday we trained twice before departure, no training on Thursday and twice again today (yesterday).
“But that is the reason we kept faith in the bulk of the team that did duty in the Cosafa Cup since I was there,” he said. Dibango also conceded that he knows very little about their opponents but was optimistic this will not affect the Warriors’ performance.
“There isn’t much we know about them but I have watched a few games plus getting some information from Grinder (Benedict Moyo) who was part of the Cosafa technical committee analysing all the teams that were participating.
“They attack very well, particularly through the middle, and on the left side. But we know they will be buoyed by their crowd and we will not make it any easy for them.
“What I know is they have three good attacking players, but the underlining factor is we try — as much as possible — to concentrate on what we have. The team, according to Mutesva, yesterday trained at the Sepp Blatter training facility and all the players came through well with no injury worries will today travel to Curepipe where they will train at the match venue.
Online Reporter