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Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor
ZIMBABWE Warriors’ nightmarish 2014 World Cup campaign did not only give them the wooden spoon in Group G but saw them earn the unwanted tag of being the worst performing team, in Southern Africa, in the marathon to reach Brazil.The Warriors’ pathetic performance in this World Cup campaign, our worst since the four-team six-match group format was introduced for Africa 25 years ago, is put into its proper context by the fact that Lesotho, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique all performed better than us.
Zimbabwe were also part of a cast of five nations, including Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, Mozambique and Sudan (whose victory over Zambia was nullified by Fifa for the use of an ineligible player), to come out of the rounds of six group games without a victory to their credit.
The Warriors were also part of a crew of four teams, including Equatorial Guinea, Sudan and Rwanda, who emerged as the worst performing nations among the group of 40 African countries that took part in the qualifying battles for a ticket to Brazil.
Although all the four bottom-placed countries ended with just two points, out of a possible 18, Zimbabwe will not be ranked last in the final classification table given that our goal difference, minus five, was the best of the four countries with Rwanda (minus seven), Equatorial Guinea (minus nine) and Sudan (minus 10).
But while we finished 37th, out of 40 countries, in the final classification, with the same number of points as the worst performing team Sudan, who could have been in a better place had their administrators not bungled and fielded a suspended player in their win against Zambia, it’s a fact that we finished bottom of the table in Southern Africa.
It’s the first time, in a group of at least four teams, that Zimbabwe has failed to win a single game since Fifa introduced the group format for African teams ahead of the ’90 World Cup finals in Italy.
Although the Warriors failed to win a game during the battles for a place in Italy in ‘90, their group was reduced to just three teams, with Cote d’Ivoire and Algeria being the other nations, after Libya pulled out of the contest.
It’s the first time the Warriors have finished bottom of their World Cup qualifying group, since the four-team group format was introduced, with the senior national team having played all its six matches.
The two points that the Warriors have, after six matches in their fruitless campaign for a place in Brazil next year, represent the lowest points tally for the senior national team, in a four-team group qualifying campaign for the World Cup, since the introduction of this format.
Of the 10 Southern African countries that we part of the group qualifying process, who all failed to book a place in the final shootout, Zimbabwe fared the worst, emerging with the lowest points tally after just picking two points out of a possible 18.
Bafana Bafana finished their campaign with a goal glut, after a 4-1 rout of Botswana, but that wasn’t enough to give them a ticket to the final round as Ethiopia, deducted three points for using an ineligible player, kept their calm to get the victory they needed over Central African Republic.
South Africa’s 11 points still helped them emerge as the best performing team from Southern Africa and although this was matched by Zambia, who also posted 11 points, Bafana Bafana topped the regional classification table by virtue of having scored a goal more after they ended with a similar goal difference (plus seven).
The collective shortcomings of the Southern African nations, in this World Cup campaign, is put into context by the fact that even though Bafana Bafana emerged as the best performing team in this region, they still finished two points behind an Ethiopian side that had three points deducted from their tally for using a suspended player in Botswana.
Zambia, who blew their campaign after draws in Lesotho and at home to Sudan, having benefited immensely from the nullification of their away loss to the Sudanese with the three points being allocated to Chipolopolo, needed a win in Kumasi in the final game against Ghana to keep their campaign alive.
But it was always going to be a massive task, for a contest dominated by pre-match acrimony, and the Zambians were well and truly out of the contest when they fell 0-2 behind, late in the match, where the hosts needed just a draw to qualify.
Although the Zambians rallied to score a goal, it was too little, too late to save their campaign, and their hopes were crushed in a 1-2 defeat to the Black Stars.
But the Zambians still emerged as the best performing of the Southern African teams after winning three, drawing two and losing one of their six games for a tally of 11 points that was, however, four short of the Black Stars.
At least the other teams enjoyed a victory with little Lesotho defying the odds to beat Sudan in their backyard, in the final match of this campaign, Namibia notching a single victory in six games, the DRC getting one win in six and Malawi and Angola also getting one victory each in their six matches.
Botswana got two wins, one of them from the boardroom after the nullification of their loss at home to Ethiopia, which was converted into a 3-0 win for the Zebras by Fifa, while there were no victories for Zimbabwe and Mozambique who played in the same group.
Mozambique only scored two goals in six matches, their second coming in Harare on Sunday, while Namibia also only scored twice in half-a-dozen matches, the DRC scoring three and Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Lesotho getting just four goals.
2014 World Cup African Zone Southern Africa Final Table
P W D L F A Pts
S Africa 6 3 2 1 12 5 11
Zambia 6 3 2 1 11 4 11
Angola 6 1 4 1 8 6 7
Malawi 6 1 4 1 4 5 7
Bots 6 2 1 3 8 10 7
DRC 6 1 3 2 3 3 6
Namibia 6 1 2 3 2 4 5
Lesotho 6 1 2 3 4 16 5
Moza 6 0 3 3 2 10 3
ZIM 6 0 2 4 4 9 2
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