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YOUNG Warriors striker Tino Kadewere said he was happy to open his account at Cosafa Youth Championships yesterday in the 1-1 draw against Mozambique in Lesotho yesterday. Kadewere had warmed up the bench in the previous three matches.The Under-20 national soccer team are now in the semi-finals and will meet Angola, who have also been impressive, on Thursday.
In the absence of Walter Musona, who was ruled out with an ankle injury, the Prince Edward student was thrown into the fray and scored the opener in the 10th minute with an easy tap-in after a good build up by Zimbabwe.
However, Mozambique levelled the terms in the 67th minute when star player, Clesio Bauque, beat defender Carlos Rusere on the edge of the box.
With the Zimbabwe ‘keeper having came off his line prematurely, the Mambas struck and levelled terms.
But the Warriors had done enough to finish on top of Group D with seven points while Botswana bowed out of the tournament.
“The team has played three teams and won and today I got my chance to play and scored. I am happy about that. It was a tough match with tension but we did our best,” said Kadewere.
“We are now looking forward to the semi-final.
“We know Angola are a strong side but we will play our normal game. I see us progressing to the final.”
While the Young Warriors celebrated a place in the last four, the technical team was not happy with the way the team played yesterday.
Team manager Patrick Mutesva said they forced changes, which saw Musona and the highly-rated Tafadzwa Kutinyu being dropped, affected their side.
Musona has scored two goals in the tournament while Kutinyu has been on target once.
“The performance was not better than in the previous game. We missed the two players who have been featuring regularly.
“All the players are equally good but sometimes changes in a team may affect the rhythm of the team.
“We are happy that we have reached the semi-finals hopefully on Thursday we will go all the way,” said Mutesva.
Teams
Zimbabwe: Donavan Benard,Carlos Rusere, Wisdom Mutasa (Emmaculate Mauna 83rd minute), Livingstone Genti, Ronald Pfumbidzai, Jimmy Kanono, Mqcini Sibanda, Tinotenda Kadewere (Brett Amidu 58th minute), Liberty Chakoroma, Munyaradzi Diro, Teenage Radebe (Michael Ngwenya 58th minute).
Mozambique: Assane Paulino, Edson Almeida, Norberto Noberto, Alegre Traquino, Dercio Matimbe, Naftal Manjate, Jose Silva Junior, Asvaldo Sunde, Alexandre Guambe, Clesio Bauque, Momede Talapa.
Online Reporter