Zim revel as Zambia mourn

Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
AS Zimbabwe’s Warriors continued to marvel over their historic win over Zambia’s Chipolopolo in Ndola, their stunned opponents were still ruing the missed opportunity to qualify for the African Nations Championships finals. The Warriors arrived at Levy Mwanawasa Saturday with the underdog tag on their heads as the odds were heavily stacked against them given that no Zimbabwe senior team had won a competitive international on Zambian soil while their hosts had also been unbeaten since turning the stadium in Ndola to be their new hunting ground.

But a Charles Sibanda 63rd minute strike shocked favourites Zambia and sent the 2012 African Champions tumbling out of the competition to be staged in South Africa next January.

The CHAN, a second tier competition after the African Cup of Nations, is a tournament that is reserved only for those players playing in their national leagues and after winning the Cosafa Cup on home soil last month the Zambians had sought to enhance their ambitious development programme through qualification for CHAN. So confident were Zambia of victory that both the team and their fans were left in disbelief by the time Malawian referee Raphael Antony blew to end the match after adding five more minutes of his optional time.

The defeat, which ended the 2013 Cosafa champions’ hopes of a second CHAN appearance, also drew the ire of Zambian sports Minister Chishimba Kambwili who blasted Chipolopolo for being “too complacent’’ after forcing a 0-0 draw in the first leg. Kambwili, however, defended French coach Herve Renard and said Chipolopolo should shoulder full blame for their surprise exit.

“They played well in front of a foreign crowd . . . why should they fail to do better in front of their home fans, people have travelled all the way from Lusaka, Livingstone, Kasama but you cannot give them the right kind of result?

“It is just the stupidity of the players, you cannot blame the coach, the coach was guiding them from the bench but the players were complacent,’’ Kambwili said.

FAZ media officer Erick Mwanza also dismissed claims on the social media networks yesterday that the Warriors were facing Confederation of African Football sanctions and could be disqualified for using an eligible player following complaints from the Chipolopolo camp.

Mwanza said FAZ were satisfied that Chipolopolo, whose defensive midfield rock Kondwani Mtonga, missed the decisive game in Ndola after picking two yellow cards in the first round first leg in Botswana and the second round, first leg in Harare had been well beaten at Levy Mwanawasa.

“There has been nothing like that, do not believe everything people say on the social network. As far as we are concerned we lost and leave it at that. There has been no communication from Caf prior and after the match,’’ Mwanza said. Chipolopolo had set qualification for CHAN as their next target after winning the Cosafa Cup and the Zambians were hoping to make it three out of three by securing passage to the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil.

FAZ president Kalusha Bwalya said despite the huge disappointment which the defeat had brought, there was also need for calm.
“We couldn’t get in our stride for the most important match and we paid the price for the goal they scored.

This was a game of few chances and we needed to take ours, the game that Zambia and Zimbabwe played has always been one, two goals.
“For me it (the defeat) is a disadvantage because it blocks the way of the players to grow and get more opportunities but this is football and you sometimes learn the hard way but you cannot burn the house down because of the result.

“We have built a good foundation but unfortunately we did not get the desired result,’’ Bwalya said.
Renard, who gave the biggest possible hint of his departure from the Chipolopolo dressing room when indicating that the Warriors match was probably his last at the stadium, cast a disconsolate figure.

“It is a shame. And I don’t know if I will play another game in this stadium. We did not play well today and deserve what we got in this match,” said Renard.

“We did not compete against the Zimbabweans, did not take the challenge to them and in such cases results go against you as has happened today.
There are no excuses here, we were not ready to qualify for the CHAN, perhaps we should look again and ask why is our team failing to progress in competitions in Africa?”

Gorowa will be the third coach after Sunday Chidzambwa in 2009 and Madinda Ndlovu two years later to take charge of the Warriors at the CHAN tournament as Zimbabwe maintain a 100% appearance record at the competition.