Young Warriors in disappointing start

From Ricky Zililo in Bulawayo
Zimbabwe Under-20…… (1) 1
Mozambique Under-20 ….. (0) 1

A late injury time stunner by Mozambique spoiled the day for Zimbabwe as they were forced to share spoils in the opening soccer match of the sixth edition of the African Union Sports Council Under-20 Region 5 Games.

With a sizeable crowd cheering the hosts at Barbourfields yesterday, the Young Warriors failed to maximise on home advantage and let the Mozambicans snatch a point from the jaws of defeat with a beautiful goal in the 90th minute.

Hermenegildo Mario Capena’s dipping volley hit on the run left Zimbabwe ’s goalkeeper Kelvin Shangiwa, who was off his line, stunned.

Just after the half-hour mark, Thembalethu Mthunzi atoned for an earlier miss to put Zimbabwe ahead capitalising on a schoolboy goalkeeper’s blunder by Philip Saimone who fumbled a harmless Learnmore Bvochora cross from the right. Mthunzi had in the 30th minute hit the side net after being set through by Bvochora with only Saimone to beat but made up for the miss three minutes later.

Even when they were a goal down, Mozambique kept fighting looking for the equaliser with brilliant build-ups but found Zimbabwe’s back four hard to crack.

In the first half the Young Warriors managed to match their opponents especially in the midfield with Bantu Rovers’ Bukhosi Sibanda showing some maturity dictating pace as a play-maker and was ably complemented by Learnmore Muyambo, Thomas Kadyaridzire and Denzel Khumalo. Mozambique returned from the breather more fired up and their play exposed Zimbabwe’s technical ineptitude as they managed to keep their team shape shifting from a 4-4-2 formation to a 4-3-3 while the hosts seemed to have no clear pattern of play.

What was only visible was Zimbabwe’s back four who all crowded on one striker, letting the Mozambicans dominate in the midfield and the resultant late equaliser did not come as a surprise.

Mozambique will be without defensive midfielder Jose Borges Cossa who was sent off after picking a second yellow card for a lunge on Bukhosi Sibanda in added time when they take on Swaziland at Luveve this afternoon. There were no post match interviews with the coaches at all venues as they did not turn up for organised press conferences.

Meanwhile, in the women’s section, the Mighty Warriors opened their campaign with a 2-1 victory over Namibia at Barbourfields yesterday.