NEXT SUNDAY Warriors coach Ian Gorowa and his team will set foot on the first rung of the ladder to their 2014 football greatness quest.
MICHAEL MADYIRA SPORT REPORTER
The Warriors are making a third successive African Nations Championships (Chan) appearance, but hard-pressed to better their past two editions’ performances where they failed to get past the group stages. They will leave for South Africa tomorrow and would be based in Cape Town for Group B matches where they will play Morocco, Burkina Faso and Uganda.
They hope to last the entire tournament until February 1.
Zimbabwean football has had little to cheer in recent years, but the coming in of Gorowa in July last year has given a ray of hope in the wounded local game. Beating a fiery Zambian side to secure the Chan finals ticket was an acid test Gorowa passed.
Now, another moment of truth beckons at the tournament exclusively for home-based players. Here is a sneak-peek into the camps of the Warriors’ opponents at Chan:
Morocco From the Atlas Mountains to Cape Town’s Table Mountains, Morocco will traverse the length of Africa seeking to atone for their recent years of international football slump in their maiden Chan appearance. On their way to South Africa, the Atlas Lions saw off holders Tunisia with a 1-0 aggregate scoreline whose crucial goal they grabbed away in the second leg. Led by new coach Hassan Benabicha who took over from Rachid Taoussi on Christmas Eve, the Atlas Lions boast seven players who steered Raja Casablanca to the Club World Club final where they eventually fell to European Champions Bayern Munich.
Burkina Faso They usually rely on overseas stars most of whom ply their trade in the French League One and spurred them to last year’s African Cup of Nations final and pulled them on the verge of World Cup qualification. But this is a different landscape alltogether for the Burkinabe whose locally-based players have had very little exposure to international football.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
Only goalkeeper Laré Mohamed Diarra brings vast international experience as the only locally-based player in the squad that took part in the World Cup qualification play-offs against Algeria late last year. Their struggle with locally-based players was demonstrated in the manner they qualified for Chan.
They beat Togo in the preliminary round where they beat Togo home and away to sail through to the first round on a 3-1 aggregate scoreline. This is the Stallions’ debut Chan appearance, but that does not take away from them the traditional West African bullish spirit. Coach Put is yet to name his squad but the locally-based group usually boasts the likes of Bassirou Ouédraogo, Francis Kaboré, Oumarou Nebié and Mohamed Kaboré who did well at the Wafu tournament.
Uganda Uganda has already made a coup on the Warriors during this run-up to Chan. In September last year Egypt requested a friendly international with the Warriors, but Zifa imposed another date on Egypt. The impatient North Africans could not take it and instead engaged Uganda in two friendlies in Cairo inside three days.
The lost the first match 2-0 before emphatically losing the last match 0-3. Uganda could be the most geared up side in Chan Group B having also participated at the Cecafa Cup where they bowed out at the quarter-final stage through a penalty shoot-out after topping Group C which included Sudan.
Since the East Africans have few foreign-based players, it is now an advantage to them as most of the players Micho is taking to South Africa players are part of the core of the side that competes in their more competitive assignments. They beat Tanzania for a second Chan appearance after having also played at the last edition where they could not advance past the group stages.
