DESPITE having failed to score a single goal in their first two matches in the 2014 African Nations Championships (Chan) finals, the Warriors still have a chance of making it to the quarter-finals of the competition if they upstage Burkina Faso tomorrow at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town. Fortune Mbele Sports Reporter
Head coach Ian Gorowa might be basking in the glory of not having lost a match since getting the job with the senior national team but his headache tomorrow night might be to hone his strikers’ scoring skills and make sure he buries the Burkinabe to advance to the last eight of the tournament.
The Warriors are the only side not to have found the net in Group B of the tournament since the competition started last Saturday and are hard-pressed to sail past Burkina Faso to earn a place in the quarter-finals.
Both sides are out of the top two in the group with Uganda on pole position after beating the Burkinabe 2-1 in the second game last Sunday after Zimbabwe had played a goalless draw with the Atlas Lions of Morocco on the same day.
The Cranes of Uganda settled for a goalless draw with the Warriors on Thursday and have four points. Burkina Faso scored in the 1-2 loss to Uganda and held the Atlas Lions to a 1-1 draw and have so far scored two goals in South Africa.
Uganda and Morocco are at the top with the Atlas Lions on the second spot at par with the Warriors on two points while the Burkinabe lag behind at the basement with only a point from the draw against Morocco.
If Zimbabwe win tomorrow, they would be on five points and whatever result between Morocco and Uganda will not stop them from progressing. If Uganda loses to Morocco, then it will be Zimbabwe and the Atlas Lions on five points with the Cranes remaining stagnant on four points.
A second win for Uganda will take them to seven points.
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Zimbabwe’s adversaries tomorrow night are in the most complex situation as they must win against the Warriors and pray that Uganda get a win to avoid the Moroccans shooting to five points and the Ugandans edging the Burkinabe on the head-to-head rule following the 1-2 defeat in the first match.
But tomorrow, the ball will be in the Warriors strikers’ court to prove themselves in front of goal and the burden is definitely on Kudakwashe Mahachi, Simba Sithole, Donald Ngoma, Charles Sibanda and Ali Sadiki to make sure Zimbabwe win or return home empty-handed. Scoring more goals in a game against Burkina Faso will be an advantage for the Warriors in the event Morocco and Uganda settle for a stalemate.
Zimbabwe has previously met thrice with the Burkina Faso winning twice and playing a 1-1 draw in 2007 when the Warriors were at home.
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