Mighty Warriors’ moment of truth beckons

08 Jun, 2014 - 00:06 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

On The Ball
This is the million-dollar question on everybody’s lips after the senior national men’s football team were unceremoniously booted out of the 2015 Afcon tournament last week by unfancied Tanzania.
I’m still shell-shocked about this debacle, still searching for answers so I’ll have to wait until my “senses return” before writing anything on that! That’s why I’ll, instead, concentrate on looking ahead at today’s African Women’s Championship away final qualifier and return leg between our own Mighty Warriors and She-polopolo of Zambia in Lusaka.

Our girls were, just like their male counterparts, shocked 0-1 a fortnight ago at Rufaro.
To say the Mighty Warriors looked jaded and directionless on that day would be putting it mildly!

Of course, the absence of their gaffer, Rosemary Mugadza, who had left at the 11th hour to attend to her untimely brother’s bereavement, did affect the team’s performance, but the thousands who turned up to rally behind their heroines left the stadium feeling short-changed.

The players’ body language betrayed their anger and frustration at not being paid their daily allowances by the mother body.
The usually dependable quartet of skipper Felicitas “Figo” Muzongondi, playmaker Marjorie “The Boss” Nyaumwe and front runners Rutendo “Madzimai” Makore and Rudo “Sniper” Neshamba were “out of office” for the whole afternoon.

In fact, had it not been for the heroics of ’keeper Chido “Iker” Dzingirai, the tie would have been wrapped up in Zambia’s favour on that horrendous afternoon.

It is, however, “not yet over,” as adamantly claimed after the match by Mighty Warriors assistant coach Johannes Chikaola.
Coach Mugadza is back and will be barking instructions from the bench today.

“We want to score an early goal and unsettle them in their own backyard,” was the war cry from Chikaola, as he addressed the media before the team’s departure, early on Thursday morning.

If Nyaumwe is on song and dictates the pace in the middle of the park like we have known her to do in the past, I’m very confident that the early goal being sought by Chikaola will definitely materialise and turn the tide in our favour.

It would be sad for new women’s boss, Miriam Sibanda, if the side is booted out today because she has promised to continue with the same vigour as her predecessor, Mavis Gumbo.

The energetic Sibanda and her squad need the whole nation’s support in this hour of need as the girl child ventures on a mission to conquer and make this soccer-crazy nation to at least “dissolve, in their mouths”, the bitter pill that was manufactured by a dismal performance by the Warriors last week at the National Sports Stadium.

Go Mighty Warriors Go!
* * *
A staunch Highlanders fan, Nkululeko Mangena of Nkayi, phoned me a couple of days ago, wanting to know if I thought his team could still win the Castle Lager Premiership title without Kuda Mahachi, who leaves for South African champions, Mamelodi Sundowns, shortly.

If Nkululeko had asked me this question before “Bosso’s” league clash with Buffaloes a fortnight ago at Sakubva, I would have hesitated to give him a definite answer. But after the Manicaland side’s 3-1 destruction – in the absence of Mahachi, who had gone for some last-minute consultations at Sundowns  – I can bodly say to Nkululeko and the rest of the black and white army: “Fear not . . . you can do it”!

I think the agony of losing the league crown for the past two seasons on the very last day to their arch rivals, Dynamos, on goal difference, is really spurring on coach Kelvin “KK” Kaindu’s troops to make sure that “lightning doesn’t strike thrice.”

But can Highlanders continue pressing the green juggernaut switch with the added loss of Moyo and Milton “Milito” Ncube, who are also South Africa-bound?

I’m pretty sure Kaindu has already sorted that one out and will continue to plug away at the opposition, who are now all queueing up for bragging rights if they upset his side.

So, as the Premiership tale continues to reveal more twists and turns as the pages are turned every week, who are likely to be the main challengers in Highlanders’ quest for a seventh title since the Premiership sprung to life in 1993?

One thing is for sure, every side in the top eight right now will “die” trying, starting with FC Platinum, who take on Kaindu’s men at Barbourfields today!
* * *

Who do you think will win this year’s World Cup, which kicks off in Brazil on Thursday?
And what chances do you think the five African representatives have?

Join me tonight on ZBC-TV at 7.30 pm and on Tuesday at the same time, as I look at the chances of Algeria, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria.

Remember to take care of your loved ones and each other. It’s bye bye for now.

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