The Sunday Mail
COACH Ian Gorowa wants the Warriors to send a clear message of their intentions to qualify for the 2015 African Cup of Nations by beating Tanzania, but has warned his charges of the potential banana skin posed by the Taifa Stars in their backyard.
The Warriors, who flew into Dar es Salaam at dawn yesterday after a long trip that took them through Lusaka and Addis Ababa, will face the Taifa Stars in a first round first leg qualifier at the National Sports Stadium this afternoon.
The match, set to be played in the humid conditions of Dar es Salaam, will get underway at 3pm Zimbabwean time.
Gorowa took his charges for a feel of the match venue for a 45-minute workout before allowing them more time to rest ahead of the showdown which he described as very key to the Warriors’ bid for a third Afcon appearance.
The 30th edition of the African Cup of Nations is scheduled for next January in Morocco.
The Warriors, who had over the years fallen from grace and slipped out of the Fifa top 100 nations and Africa’s top 20, have had to face the ignominy of having to feature in a longer qualification route which involves two preliminary rounds before they can secure a place on the group stage of the qualifiers.
Gorowa now wants them to “take it game by game’’ starting with this afternoon’s encounter at the 60 000 facility that is also known as the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium after the country’s third president.
“We have to look at Tanzania first before we look at anything else and we came here looking for a result. We have to start off by winning the match . . . It will be a massive step and I am confident these guys will deliver.
“It’s important that we avoid a banana skin because you don’t want to start off the campaign with a defeat because that will make it difficult for us.’’
Gorowa said he expected his charges to adjust to the conditions in Dar es Salaam, including sub-standard accommodation, arguing that they have encountered worse facilities before.
“Conditions should not be a concern. These are professionals and they should be able to adjust to whatever conditions they come up against,’’ he said.
Although the Warriors were here last year for a friendly which Zimbabwe was using as part of preparations for the African Nations Championships and which ended in a 0-0 deadlock, a lot has changed since then.
From the squad that arrived here yesterday, only two players — skipper Partson Jaure and Black Rhinos’ Wonder Kapinda — featured in the friendly match which Gorowa used to widen his selection options for the CHAN tournament.
The Taifa Stars might have retained the core of the side that featured in that game, but they have a new man in charge now, Dutchman Mart Nooji, who will be presiding over his first competitive game with Tanzania and has been brought in to try and help the East Africans make the trip to Morocco 2015.
Gorowa also noted that the hosts, whose Premiership is currently off-season, had been in camp for a month but maintained that despite having less than a full week of training, the Warriors had prepared well for the assignment.
“They might have a new coach, but I have noticed that it is still the same squad which played in the friendly and because he is a Dutchman and uses the same formation with us, I foresee a match of two teams with a similar style,’’ he said.
Gorowa was also hopeful that the presence of experienced Mamelodi Sundowns striker Cuthbert Malajila and Mpumalanga Black Aces’ Tendai Ndoro would make a difference for his side.
“During the CHAN tournament, scoring goals was our Achilles’ heel although we created chances and we were compact. I hope with the strikers that we have now, we can score goals,’’ Gorowa said.
The Warriors will bank on Malajila and Ndoro to front the attack while How Mine’s Kuda Musharu, who did well for the gold miners in the Confederation Cup, also made the trip and could provide another cutting edge.
Highlanders winger Kuda Mahachi is also expected to give the Warriors the width that should create more space for the visitors upfront and ensure Malajila and Ndoro are a handful for Taifa Stars skipper Nadir Haroub and his defence.
The Taifa Stars, who had been in camp in Mbeya, a city 829km south-west of the capital, returned to Dar es Salaam on Thursday and Haroub and his coach Nooji indicated that they were bracing for a tough assignment against the Warriors.
Nooji , who had 22 players in camp in the last month, had his selection options boosted by the arrival of talismanic forward Mbwana Samata, who were due to fly into the country yesterday after playing for TP Mazembe in a 1-0 losing cause away against Al Hilal in Sudan.
Samata was in the company of his TP Mazembe teammate and fellow forward Thomas Uliwmengu, but Nooji was coy when asked whether he would immediately draft the pair in the team that will face the Warriors.
“It’s a good thing that the pair will join the team before the match, but I still don’t know whether I can use them or not.
“It will actually depend on their mental and physical fitness. In the meantime, I have to concentrate on the players we have in camp,’’ Nooji said.
Nooji, however, revealed his delight that his two top strikers had decided to return home and help their country.
The Dutchman can also count on big striker John Bocco, who plays for Tanzania champions Azam, and midfielders Frank Domayo and Haruna Chanongo, who also played against the Warriors last year.
Their highly rated skipper Haroub, who plays club football with Young Africans, was also hopeful that the long period they have had together would give them an edge over the Warriors.
