adminIshemunyoro Chingwere in Beau Bassin, Mauritius
THE dawn of Ian Gorowa’s tenure as Warriors coach has not only recorded an emphatic 3-0 away win over Mauritius but has been described by Zifa as a perfect tonic for better things to come.Dibango’s Warriors arrived in the Indian Ocean Island still smarting from being dethroned from their mantle as Cosafa champions.
The Warriors fell 2-0 to rivals Zambia in the 2013 Cosafa final in Ndola last Saturday.
But they proved too strong for Mauritius as they began their journey for a possible place at the African Nations Championships.
Their convincing win was much to the delight of head of delegation and Zifa board member competitions Bennedict “Grinder” Moyo.
With such players as Hardlife Zvirekwi in top form on the right back where they literally forced the hosts to back pedal for long periods.
Moyo said the performance by the team was a good sign.
While the Warriors continued their passing game introduced by Klaus Pagels, it was refreshingly encouraging to see such ball players like Charles Sibanda and Milton Ncube taking on matters into their own hands dribbling past opponents.
Moyo said the early signs were encouraging.
“It’s a very good start for the new technical team led by Ian, starting with a win is always good no matter how it comes and against which opponent because there is nothing like minnows in football,” said Moyo.
While the nation is still basking in the convincing win, failing to appear at the finals of major tournaments has been Zimbabwe’s curse.
And that makes Gorowa’s task that lies ahead insurmountable just like his predecessors.
“The target, from the moment we disbanded the team has always been the same. We are rebuilding a team for the 2015 African Cup of Nations and that has not changed,” Moyo said.
“So for now what we want is to see positive football like we saw yesterday (Sunday), qualifying for such tournaments like CHAN and doing well.
There are a lot of youngsters being introduced and like I have always said, the emphasis should be on the Under-23s.
“So as we progress you will see that a lot of youngsters will be incorporated. The coach is agreeable to it, he is part of the exercise otherwise if he was not agreeable to it he would not have been here.
“We went into the match having lost to Zambia and we could not afford to lose another game on the trot,” said Moyo.
Gorowa has however, maintained his cool saying that the Islanders, ranked 182 in the world against the Warriors’ 114th placing, were somewhat weak an opposition for the national squad to measure its pedigree.
“Satisfied? Yes and no (because) you are always looking for improvements in your team but again it’s always about results, we scored three goals, we have won away from home so we just have to be satisfied.
“Very encouraging I must say but again you cannot blow the trumpet after beating Mauritius which in terms of football I think is one of those weaker opposition, but football is changing.
“Mauritius has improved tremendously and you could see they also gave us quite a fright in the second half and that clearly shows how much they have improved,” Gorowa said.
In the clearest of indications that he will not anchor his playing style that was trying to be instilled by his predecessor, Gorowa encouraged players to go out and freely express themselves to their abilities before the match and in his post-match analysis highlighted that there were instances in which they over passed.
“But I think also they overdid it in certain situations where you could see in areas where the ball was not moving but they still wanted to play short passes which is not the kind of game you can play in these conditions,” he said.
He also lauded the way the team executed the game plan and maintained shape both in attack and in defence especially in the first 10 minutes of the second half when the hosts were threatening.
Meanwhile the team is expected back home this evening.
Online Reporter