With focus, Warriors can restore national pride

THE Warriors face a make-or-break assignment, in their quest for a maiden appearance at the World Cup finals, with a tough battle against the Black Stars this evening.

The importance of this mission cannot be overemphasised and the outcome of today’s game could be the difference between us reviving our campaign, or throwing in the towel.

A stunning victory will breathe life into our campaign, which has started badly, with just one point, from a possible six, in our first two qualifiers.

The dull goalless home draw against a makeshift Bafana Bafana was a disappointing result while the shock 0-1 defeat to Ethiopia complicated our situation.

We now find ourselves at the crossroads, where we have to try and pick, at least, four points, and at most six points, against the Black Stars, over the next three days.

With the Ghanaians having reinforced their ranks, by recalling some of their best players, led by Arsenal’s Thomas Partey, this will be a difficult mission for our boys.

But, as the Central African Republic showed on Thursday, by handing Nigeria their first home World Cup defeat in 40 years, nothing is impossible, when it comes to football.

The Wild Beasts’ stunning 1-0 win in Lagos has been reverberating around the world.

It is providing the game’s lightweights with hope that, if you really stick to your plans, the best teams can be tamed, even in their backyard.

It’s something which our boys need to use as a rallying point to try and inspire them to get a positive result, against the Ghanaians today.

A draw will not be a bad result, as long as we can go one better and beat them in Harare on Tuesday, while victory will be the bonus result that can dramatically change our campaign.

We have done it before and, just three years ago we went to Kinshasa, with no one even giving us a chance of coming out with a point, against the Democratic Republic of Congo.

However, at the end of the battle, the Leopards had been skinned, by our Warriors, with coach Sunday Chidzambwa and his men celebrating a famous victory for our country.

Captain Knowledge Musona, who was one of the scorers in that match, is still the leader of our team and knows what the nation expects from this adventure in Ghana.

We all know that we should never have been in this very sorry state, from the word go, if our football leaders had chosen reason instead of fatal experiments.

The awful decision for them to bring in hapless coach Zdravko Logarusic, and turn the Warriors into an experiment for the Croat to have a feel of what it means to coach at this level, was an insult to our country, and our flagship national team.

It was an invitation for trouble to invade our camp because, from the word go, it was clear that a coach, whose only experience was a flirtation with Sudan, a country who have lost their way in international football, was ill-equipped to be trusted with guiding the Warriors.

A coach, who has never been to the AFCON finals, somehow, suddenly found himself with the responsibility to try and lead our Warriors to the World Cup finals.

During our suicidal experiment with Loga, in which we were paying him US$7 000 a month, and giving him the freedom to spend most of his time at home in Croatia, a serious football nation like Mali, with visionary leaders who care for their national game, decided to give the same job to one of their own.

His name is Mohamed Magassouba, on a US$1 700 a month salary, which hasn’t even been paid, in the last 20 months.

Because Magassouba loves his country, given it’s the only he has, the only place he calls home, this hasn’t compromised, in any way, how he has been fighting for its glory, on the football fields.

Today, the Eagles of Mali are top of their World Cup qualifying group, after three games, with two wins and a draw, and are yet to concede a goal, in 270 minutes of action.

Even though they have been forced to play their home matches, on neutral territory, because none of their stadiums is deemed good enough to host World Cup qualifying matches, Magassouba has guided them to open a two-point cushion, at the top of their group.

That is the kind of spirit, which was lacking in Loga, who was only here for the money, and it’s sad that, before we even reach the half point of our World Cup qualification point, we have had to look for another coach, to clean his mess.

The tragedy is that no one will be held accountable for all this, even though the Warriors are a national project, whose fortunes have a bearing in dictating the mood of our country.

On the occasions that they do well, you can feel a refreshing breeze sweeping across the country, helping us to find the energy to deal with the challenges we confront in our everyday lives.

When they lose, you can feel the wave of dejection, which sweeps across the country, darkening our mood,

Hopefully, despite their poor start, which was largely due to the lack of leadership, in their technical area, we still believe in our boys and, our call to them is that they must fight like true Warriors, this evening.

Sport has always been known to reward those who give it their all, even when they come up against the best in the world.

And, if the Wild Beasts of the Central African Republic could win in Nigeria, then we should also fancy our chances this evening.