adminGerman coach Klaus Dieter Pagels this year.
Zvasiya, who is expected to play a big part in Pagels’ project following the disbandment of the previous side, yesterday said people should not read much into the failed 2014 World Cup campaign.
The Warriors host group favourites Egypt at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday.
The hosts are currently bottom of the table with one point while Egypt are sitting at the top on nine points, five better than Guinea, with just three games remaining in the group qualifiers.
Zimbabwe and Egypt experienced mixed fortunes in the latest Fifa rankings released yesterday as the Warriors rose three rungs up to number 102 in the world while Egypt were sliding three places down to 71.
The Pharaohs, winners of a record seven African Nations Cup trophies, were once ranked in the global top 10 but have in the past two months fallen to their worst positions since the list was established in 1993.
Zvasiya, however, would not be tempted to focus on the opposition as he believes Zimbabwe are in a better position to win on Sunday.
Although Zimbabwe have a bad record against Egypt, the strong defender said they will draw inspiration from the first leg in Alexandria where they put up a gallant fight and only to fall to a late penalty by Mohamed Aboutrika in the 2-1 defeat.
Despite playing at home, Zvasiya is not expecting an easy game again.
“It won’t be an easy game but if we just work as a team like what we did in Egypt I think we can win because nothing is impossible. Moreover we are playing at home and we have a good team of youngsters, all of them good players.
“What is needed is the team spirit and the desire to win because football is all the same. We don’t have to look at Egypt’s past achievements.
“It’s usually the good and more organised team that wins at the end of the day,” said Zvasiya.
Zimbabwe continued with their preparations yesterday and the technical team is expected to trim the squad down to 18 after tomorrow’s training session.
The Warriors need the win to boost confidence in their ranks even though they do not have much to play for, except national pride, in the remainder of the 2014 World Cup campaign.
Zvasiya, however, is looking further than the current campaign and believes Pagels has a great vision for the team.
The German has been in the spotlight since he took over the reins in February this year with his first assignment against Botswana convincing most of those who doubted him of the direction he wants the team to go.
Pagels insisted that he needed to build on a new slate with the majority being young players like Knowledge Musona, Khama Billiart, Partson Jaure, Denver Mukamba, Archford Gutu and Ovidy Karuru forming the core of his project.
The Warriors coach has even ignored pressure to call some experienced players like Edward Sadomba, Nyasha Mushekwi, Kingstone Nkhata and Willard Katsande.
His football philosophy has charmed most of the players in the set-up and Zvasiya believes they will go far in this path.
“For me it’s nice because I enjoy playing the ball. I feel comfortable on the ball and, besides, that’s the trend in modern football.
“Almost everyone world over is now playing passing football.
“Even at Chiefs, we are playing the ball from the back. I think it’s the best time to start adjusting along those lines, like Pagels is introducing.
“If the fans and everyone else can be patient with the efforts being put in place we can soon turn out to be a strong team and qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations and the next World Cup.” Zvasiya said it was only a question of time before they explode.
“I think it’s still a new team and the good thing is that we played together with most of the players in this team at the junior levels like the Under-17s, Under-20 and Under-23,” said the defender.
“We are not new to each other and I think it’s working because if you look at our first match against Botswana we did well and when we went to Egypt it wasn’t bad again.
“Now we expect something even better if we stick to the tactics and the coach’s instructions.
“In the next two years I think we can qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations if we seriously continue with this rebuilding. The more we play together the better we get.
“We have young players n the team and age is on our side.”
Zvasiya recently completed a dream season at Kaizer Chiefs where he won a League and Cup double.
He was part of the successful AmaKhosi side that was crowned the Absa Champions and then capped a fine season by winning the Nedbank Cup.
“It was my dream since I was young. I grew up supporting Chiefs and right now I can’t really express the feeling to go all the way and play for Chiefs and winning the championship and the Nedbank Cup.
“I was happy with the achievement.
“Now I hope to win more things with Chiefs. The immediate target obviously is to defend the Absa title and then try to compete for more trophies like the Mtn Super 8 and Telkom Cup,” he said.
Online Reporter