The Sunday Mail
THE desire to leave a lasting legacy is driving the current crop of Zimbabwe’s Warriors, and national men’s soccer team skipper Willard Katsande sees tonight’s Afcon clash against Guinea as a chance to send a “powerful” message across Africa.
Zimbabwe have already qualified for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Gabon, rendering today’s clash a dead rubber, but the Warriors are not going for a weekend outing in West Africa.
“We need to leave a legacy when it comes to Zimbabwean football; we just want to be remembered one day as the best Warriors team ever. To do that we have to finish the Afcon qualifiers without a defeat,” said Katsande (30).
Although the late Reinhard Fabisch’s Dream Team of the 1990s neither qualified for Afcon nor the Fifa World Cup, it is regarded by many as the best Warriors group of all time.
The Dream Team had an array of stars that included Bruce Grobelaar, Norman Mapeza, Ephraim Chawanda, Rahman Gumbo, Willard Khumalo (late), Vitalis Takawira, Benjamin Nkonjera (late) and the Ndlovu brothers Madinda, Adam and Peter.
However, Katsande’s troops have already made history by becoming the first Warriors team to qualify for the Afcon finals with a game to spare.
The Golden Generation headlined by Khama Billiat, Knowledge Musona, Costa Nhamoinesu, Marvellous Nakamba and Katsande wants to spice it up by finishing the campaign without tasting defeat.
“We need to send a powerful message to whoever will be in the same Afcon finals group with Zimbabwe that we are no pushovers,” said Katsande.
The Afcon journey began horribly when Zimbabwe travelled by road to Malawi on June 13. In between there were slight glitches but Katsande and his boys have remained focused and united.
“That is because we are more like family now; we know each other very well because we have been together for a long time. We even know who has problems at home and we comfort each other. When you want to perform well you have to bond,” he said.
“We will not be taking part in the World Cup qualifiers so this Guinea game could be our last competitive game. We also need to climb up the rankings ahead of the Afcon finals draw in October so there is a lot to play for in Conakry.”
