We can’t surrender

has been complicated by the painful loss in Mali on Saturday, but I’m confident that we have a team that can pluck us out of the woods and take us to Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
The 0-1 defeat in Bamako turned our mission into a really tough assignment, given that it created a gulf between us and the leading teams, but with a full second round of matches still to be played, including two big games for us at home and one against leaders Cape Verde away, we are still very much in this contest.
Our gritty performance in Mali did not get its due rewards but, even though we came back empty-handed, there were a lot of positives that emerged from that game, especially the performance of emerging players like Denver Mukamba, Archieford Gutu and Khama Billiat, to convince me that this campaign can be turned around.
A draw in Mali would have been a good result for us, and we played well enough – especially in the second half – to earn that point, and if there is a disappointment that still hangs from our trip to Bamako, it stems from the pain that comes with a defeat in a game we didn’t deserve to lose.
But we are in this position because we also dropped points in our home game against Cape Verde, while the leading two teams have picked maximum points in their home matches to date, and that’s why I believe winning our next two home matches will have a big impact on our campaign and change a lot of things.
Questions have now been asked about whether I’m good enough to lead the Warriors and I understand the frustration, among some of the fans, and the criticism I’m getting because we are not in a good position right now and I will take full responsibility for everything because I am the man in charge.
I feel I’m good enough to help the team move forward and I have been working hard to try and get the right results and all I can ask for from my fellow countrymen and women is time to shape this project and I feel that if we work hard together we can get our team right.
I’m used to getting tested, and getting doubted, but this has always pushed me to do even better from the days when I was a player and I am committed to do the best now that I have been given a bigger responsibility, to help my country, which I’m proud of.
I will be the first person to raise my hand and say I can’t do it if I see that the task has gone beyond my capacity but when I look back and see how we competed against Mali, against all the odds that were stacked against us, and I see that there is very little between us and the Malians, I find the extra energy to move on.
This is what is giving me this drive to continue working with the boys and the hope that if we all work very hard, play the international friendly matches when the Fifa dates come along and plan properly for each of the three remaining games, we can still do it.
We can choose to go back to our old ways and change things again or we can choose a bit of patience and see where this campaign takes us and the kind of team that we will be having by the time we complete our games.
There are still too many points on offer, and a number of tricky matches for everyone involved, nothing can be guaranteed right now and, while we would have loved to be in a better situation, we have to draw inspiration from the size of our task and do even better than we had initially planned for our remaining three matches.
Interestingly, Cape Verde and Mali have two away matches remaining, they will both go to Liberia, they will play against each other in Bamako and we have the home tie against Mali and then what I believe to be a do-or-die final showdown in Cape Verde for us.
I believe we got our tactics right in Bamako, using the 4-5-1 formation, when in defence with Nyasha Mushekwi playing as the lone striker, which changed to 3-5-2 when we were attacking with Edward Sadomba adding the extra striker and the players responded well to the challenge.
We made one fatal mistake in that first half, when Method Mwanjali missed a tackle when he slid in trying to win the ball, and from the resultant cross, Mali found the space to head home their goal.
But we generally applied ourselves well, playing to our game plan, and if we had a weakness, it was on the right side where the communication between Method and Benjamin Marere wasn’t good, especially in their defensive duties, and that’s where our opponents were giving us some problems.
My initial squad had two rightbacks, who have been comfortable playing that role in the national team, but we lost Noel Kaseke because of injury and when I was asked to submit the names of the travelling players, so that the airline could start issuing tickets and other logistics, David Kutyauripo’s passport had not yet been renewed.
I chose Marere for the right side of our midfield because, given that we wanted to try and contain them as much as possible in the first half, we had planned on using his pace, by dropping balls beyond their defence lines, and in training, he had played that role well and we were all so sure that he would give us pace and width.
Of course, sometimes it goes to plan and sometimes it doesn’t, and unfortunately things didn’t go according to our plans on that right side that day and it’s a big decision that I made and that it didn’t bring what we wanted, I’m available for the criticism and will not run away from that.
But even when we were struggling on that side side, we still had the strength of our team to help us and I think Guthrie Zhokinyi and Thomas Sweswe were brilliant in defence while Tapiwa Kapini was excellent in goals.
Tapiwa got the big decisions right, coming out to cut crosses with authority, and marshaling his defence very well and I gave him the nod ahead of Washie Arubi because I felt, of the two goalkeepers, Kapini would be more comfortable playing under lights because they do that all the time in South Africa.
My game plan was always to try and throw in the emerging players, especially Archie and Denver, in the second half and I’m happy that they played so well when they came in and helped us to control the game and create the few chances which we should have taken.
The two young players are very good and they represent the future of our football and national team but we need to handle them with care, to help them become better and also gain confidence, and I always felt the second half, away in Mali, would be a good occasion for them and their combination with Khama was very good.
Mushekwi had a good chance but he couldn’t control the ball and, towards the end, I felt he was unlucky to be booked for diving when he was clearly pulled from behind inside the penalty area, which should have been a spot-kick for us.
It was one of those strange decisions in that game, including a flurry of yellow cards and funny off-side calls when we had them under pressure, which kept going against us but I think we all know that’s the nature of the game in Africa and I had told my players not to expect any favours, and so we can’t blame the referees for doing what we knew they would do.
It’s frustrating, of course, but who will hear our cry that we were treated unfairly by the match officials in Bamako when that appears to be the norm every time you travel?
We just have to live with it and concentrate on what we can influence, issues related to our players and tactics.
We are still suffering from the lack of a creative midfielder who can open the defences and our supply line to our strikers is still not very good and that explains why we have struggled to score goals in this campaign and, as we face our two big home games, it’s an area that we need to look at.
The good thing is that we are playing at home and we can probably throw in Archie into that role and, because he has the home support and is in familiar conditions, he can handle the pressure better and he is really an option we are looking at for the next games to unlock the defences. I don’t want to be making excuses but the game in Bamako was one where we would certainly have done better if Knowledge Musona was not injured because we wanted that man who would drift inside and get balls from deep and then subtract the defenders with his dribbling skills.
Sadly, we didn’t have him when we need him but, hopefully, he will be back for the remaining games.