Warriors in CHAN decline
THE first time Zimbabwe played Mali at an African Nations Championship (CHAN) tournament was at the 2014 finals in South Africa, in a 2-1 quarter-final victory that saw the Warriors book a historic semi-final berth, in what has remained the nation’s best achievement at the biannual football showpiece.
The two nations met again in Rwanda two years later, with the West Africans emerging 1-0 winners in a contest played at Umuganda Stadium in Gisenyi.
Zimbabwe, who have already crashed out of the ongoing edition in Cameroon, face Mali again this evening, albeit in unenviable circumstances.
The current group of Warriors face the ignominy of becoming the worst lot in tournament football should they fail to get a point against the Eagles in their final group game at Stade Omnisport de Douala in Douala.
Kick-off is 9pm.
Hosts Cameroon, who top Group A with four points because of a superior goal difference over Mali, play Burkina Faso in the other match at Stade Omnisport Ahmadou Ahidjo in Yaounde at the same time.
Zimbabwe are winless in Group A, having fallen 0-1 against Cameroon in the opening match last Saturday, before slumping to an embarrassing 1-3 loss against Burkina Faso on Wednesday.
They now go into battle against fired-up Mali, who are angling for a big win to top Group A, or at least finish third depending on the result between Cameroon and Burkina Faso.
At this rate, this group of Warriors could become the first national side to go to a continental or regional tournament and return without a point.
It could be a new low for Zimbabwe football.
It will be an indication of how the national game has been sliding since that finest hour of 2014 when Ian Gorowa’s Warriors reached the semi-final at the CHAN finals in South Africa.
That Burkina Faso’s first-ever win in the history of CHAN came against Zimbabwe is just another highlight of how poorer the Warriors have become at this competition.
In fact, the Warriors have been regressing since that 2014 feat when they lost to Libya in a penalty shootout.
They were back at the CHAN 2016 edition in Rwanda, where Kalisto Pasuwa and his troops managed a draw against Uganda in a group that had table-toppers Zambia and Mali.
Zimbabwe were not at the finals in 2018 after Sunday “Mhofu” Chidzambwa suffered the humiliation of being knocked out by Namibia in the final qualifier.
Chidzambwa was the first coach to lead Zimbabwe at the CHAN finals in 2009, bringing home three points from three draws against eventual champions DR Congo, Ghana and Libya.
Madinda Ndlovu was in charge of the Warriors at the 2011 CHAN finals in Sudan, where the Warriors registered three points from a gallant 1-0 win over West African giants Ghana in a Group B clash.
A then 17-year-old Archieford Gutu scored the solitary goal.
After missing out on the 2018 edition in Morocco, the Warriors, who hold the record of most CHAN appearances, are back in the trenches, but sadly looking as clueless as they were ill-prepared.
They have returned to the CHAN gathering in their worst state of preparedness given that they have an ill-prepared group of players who last tasted competitive football a year ago due to Covid-19.
A seemingly directionless coach, Zdravko “Loga” Logarusic, who is now on the brink of becoming the worst ever Zimbabwean coach at the tournament, has not helped matters either.
There have been serious questions over the Croat’s team selection and tactics at the tourney.
His pre-match antics when he posted pictures of a dead bat found on the centre of the pitch prior to their game against Cameroon also seemed to suggest that Loga had played into the belief that “juju’’ would influence the result.
The 54-year-old gaffer, however, later told goal.com that he did not believe in juju.
“If you want to talk professionally, those things should not be involved in anything professionally,” he told Goal.com
“For sure, football is football, sport is a sport.
“We exposed it, this photograph exposed that these things still exist,” he added.
“Those things did not surprise me, because already I saw it in different countries where I worked in Africa.
“You have some people in Africa who (believe in) juju or witchcraft, or they go to see some people to see magic, or pay people to do things,” the Croat noted.
“I already saw a few things, I already had some experiences because I saw that some club officials paid people to do things, I am not unfamiliar (with it).”
Nightmarish preps
However, it is a fact that this class of Warriors could rank as the worst prepared for the tournament, given that there has been no league football in Zimbabwe since December 2019.
ZIFA have not helped the coach in his plans either, as they dismally failed to come up with a composite plan for the return of football since March 2020 when the Government announced the first lockdown.
This is despite the association having received nearly US$2 million from FIFA and CAF for the safe return of football.
A proposed mini-league that was set for December failed to kick off.
When the Warriors finally went into camp in December, Covid-19 struck, as nine players tested positive after tests conducted on December 28.
This stalled preparations, as the camp was temporarily called off.
Illness and injuries have also haunted the Warriors, who went into the match against Burkina Faso on Wednesday without key midfield players Ronald Chitiyo and Richard Hachiro.
Hachiro has been ruled out of today’s clash, but Ngezi Platinum Stars’ versatile player Qadr Amin could make his first appearance at the tournament.
Nonetheless, Zimbabwe’s situation is almost similar to other Group A members whose leagues have also been affected by the coronavirus, yet they are doing reasonably well.
Some of Logarusic’s decisions, before and during the tournament, have been questioned.
Had it not been for Covid-19, the difference between Zimbabwe’s youngest member of the squad, Andrew Mbeba (20), and the oldest player, Tawanda Nyamandwe, would have been 18 years.
Loga’s initial decision to include 38-year-old Manica Diamonds veteran Nyamandwe, who featured for the Warriors at the same tourney at the inaugural edition 2009, confused many, given the CHAN finals are usually used as a developmental platform.
Nyamandwe was eventually dropped from the travelling party after returning positive results for the coronavirus.
If Loga went into the tournament with a win-at-all-costs mentality, then the mysterious omission of match-fit FC Platinum players is inexplicable.
FC Platinum players were involved in the CAF Champions League until January 6 when they were knocked out by Simba SC of Tanzania.
A good performance at the CHAN finals with the right a players can reap instant rewards as witnessed after the 2014 edition when eight Zimbabwean players earned foreign moves after their team finished fourth.
George Chigova (Supersport United), Eric Chipeta (Chippa United), Partson Jaure (University of Pretoria), Peter “Rio” Moyo (Mpumalanga Black Aces), Kudakwashe Mahachi (Mamelodi Sundowns), Milton Ncube (Ajax Cape Town), Simba Sithole (Ajax Cape Town), Ali Sadiki ( Mazembe) moved after impressing in TP South Africa.