adminneed to avoid a two-goal margin defeat in the final qualifier on October 13.
Nyandoro is set to quit the Warriors soon and, after serving his country for a dozen years, a farewell appearance at the Nations Cup would just present the perfect exit.
The Warriors found their opening goal through an own goal by Angolan midfielder Mateus while the lively Khama Billiat and Archie Gutu added goals in the first half.
Billiat, who received the man-of-the-match award, could have scored a brace but had a goal disallowed for off-side.
For his outstanding performance, Billiat received a 64gig Samsung ipad from Goldtech Electronics.
The company’s marketing executive, Cynthia Pasipanodya, said this was their way of supporting the Warriors.
But it was the battle-hardened Nyandoro, converted into a central defender at the national team, who repelled most of the attacks from Angola in the second half.
Nyandoro gave the dangerous Manucho little space, after the former Manchester United player was introduced in the second half, and although there were chances for the Angolan hitman, he got them under pressure.
After skipper Tapuwa Kapini was stretched off due to an injury in the 58th minute, Nyandoro took over the captain’s armband and led the troops superbly.
“I believe the boys gave their best in this match. We have to respect Angola and I am sure it’s not going to be easy in the next game,” said Nyandoro.
Nyandoro, alongside Kapini and Tinashe Nengomasha, have played at the Nations Cup finals at the 2004 and 2006 editions.
“We are not yet through to the finals. This is just the first half of the game and the second half will be in Angola. But I must give credit to the guys in the technical team because, in real sense, we only managed to start proper training sessions on Thursday,” said Nyandoro.
The Mamelodi Sundowns utility player has been partnering Carlington Nyadombo in the heart of the defence in recent Warriors matches.
He believes the Warriors’ early goal gave them the impetus to attack more.
“The early goal made life difficult for the Angolans and we scored more goals.
“But it’s not over yet until we get a positive result in Luanda,” said Nyandoro.
The Warriors gave a solid display in the first half but were living on the edge in the second half as the Angolans threatened, especially with Djalima and Manucho.
Leftback Onismo Bhasera, who also did well to thwart some of the raids, hopes the Warriors will be playing in South Africa in 2013.
“Winning 3-1 against a team like Angola is a good result.
“We created scoring chances in the first half and led 3-0 and had hoped to continue attacking in the second half.
“This is football and a team cannot continue do dominate the whole match.
“I am pleased with the youngsters in the side who showed the hunger and unfortunately we lost our captain in the second half but we still got it,” said Bhasera.
Meanwhile, the Angolan Football Federation chairman Pedro Neto has vowed that the Palancas Negras will be able to overcome the deficit in Luanda.
Neto said their initial objective was to achieve a result that could give them hope.
“Some of the players entered the game without focussing on the game, which caused such a negative result.
“We were better in the second half, showing that we could change the result”, he said.
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