WARRIORS captain Masimba Mambare admits his team will be motivated by revenge when they host Zambia in the first leg of the African Nations Championships (Chan) at Rufaro Stadium on Sunday.
HENRY MHARA SPORTS REPORTER
Mambare revealed the Warriors still had emotional scars from losing the Cosafa Castle Senior Challenge Cup to Chipolopolo in the finals of the tournament last month in Zambia.
The Warriors also lost 2-0 in an international friendly against the same opposition in April. Now Zimbabwe, 4-1 aggregate winners over Mauritius to advance into the final round of the Chan qualifiers, have a chance to avenge those two losses by booting Zambia out of the race.
“Obviously we are looking forward to redeem our lost pride,” Mambare said after the team’s morning training session at Gwanzura Stadium yesterday.
“We are preparing well for this match and everyone looks motivated to beat Zambia. They have beaten us before, but this is our chance to revenge.
“Most of the players are happy that we are playing Zambia because they feel that we should have beaten them on both occasions,” the Highlanders man added.
Despite drawing 1-1 against a battling Mauritius side, Mambare, one of the few outstanding players, scored the only goal for the Warriors and thinks the team played well.
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He said the only blemish to their performance was lack of goals. “We had won 3-0 in Mauritius, so the supporters were expecting goals galore. It was unfortunate that we couldn’t score, but I think we played well. We knew we had qualified for the next round, so our minds naturally relaxed. It would be a different scenario with Zambia. We know exactly what we want to do and I believe in the boys in camp. I have every reason to believe that we will qualify for Chan.” Mambare, who sat out a training session on Tuesday alongside Devon Chafa, Eric Chipeta and Tendai Ndoro due to knocks, was involved at yesterday’s morning training session at Gwanzura. All the players looked in high spirits.
Warriors coach Ian Gorowa has kept the team that played Mauritius, with Augustine Mbara the only addition to the squad. Mbara was initially in the squad in the build-up to the Mauritius match before withdrawing following a family bereavement. The Dynamos left-back was part of the squad that was at training yesterday.
Dominic Chungwa and Danny Phiri who could not make the final 18 for Mauritius, have also been recalled into the squad and are fighting for positions.
The Warriors were expected to shift base to the match venue for their afternoon training session. Reports from Zambia yesterday suggested that coach Hervé Renard had also kept the bulk of the team that beat Zimbabwe.
Renard has been forced to drop his ace midfield Mukuka Mulenga who picked an injury in their last match against Botswana. The African Cup of Nations winning coach has called in Roderick Kabwe and Lubambo Musonda for assessment, with the aim of filling the void left by his talisman.
Chipolopolo are expected in Harare on Friday. Zifa has pegged the gate charges for the match at $3 for the cheapest ticket while the “upper grand stand” ticket has been put at $10. The VIP ticket is $20.
