The ManicaPost
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
THE Warriors’ gallant display against the highly rated Democratic Republic of Congo has charmed the hearts and minds of former senior men national team players who challenged Zifa to ensure that the current squad must be a springboard to maintain a formidable national team beyond the Total Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon next year.
Taking four points from DRC in back-to-back fixtures left the Warriors needing just a point from the remaining two matches to secure a place among the 24 teams to feature in the 2019 Total Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
Given that the Democratic Republic of Congo will face Congo Brazzaville in one of their remaining two matches and cancel each others’ tally in that encounter, mathematically Zimbabwe might end up not needing that point to qualify.
The next edition of the Africa Cup of Nations in 2019 will have 24 teams on parade instead of the traditional 16 teams.
There are 12 groups of four in the current qualifying matches. The team ranked first of each group will join the host in the final tournament in Cameroon as well as all the teams ranked second in all groups except that of the host.
One of Mutare born players to don the national team jersey Shepherd Muradzikwa said the current squad has shown great potential.
“I think they have done us proud. They are playing exciting football and showing hunger for success. We have a chance to maintain a formidable national team for a long time to come if we now manage our juniors well so that they feed into the national team when the likes of Khama Billiat and Knowledge Musona finally call it a day,” he said.
Fellow Mutare born former national team player Lazarus “Kabila” Muhoni praised the Warrior’s Class of ’18 for a splendid show in the campaign so far.
The former Buffaloes and Tanganda player spoke glowingly of newcomer Tendayi Darikwa for quickly adjusting to the demands of football on the continent as well as Talent Chawapiwa.
“Warriors had a great and awesome performance both in DRC and at the National Sports Stadium. They showed a lot of character and commitment. We are praising them both the players and the technical team. They used good tactics to neutralise the Congolese team, so our qualification is very much certain because we just need a draw from two games left of which will get it and processed to Afcon finals in Cameroon next year.
“I want to give credit to Darikwa and Talent Chawapiwa for the roles they played in these past games. That was great, not forgetting Khama Billiat and Musona. That is the kind of character we want from our players to show us whenever they wear that jersey, consider national pride if u wear that jersey that is the way to do it,” he said.
Muhoni, who is currently attached to Manica Diamonds where he is playing a technical role, lampooned Zifa for shoddy preparations.
“Lastly am not happy with our preparations from management side, we always cry about this every year, Zifa must do their home work and this must be thing of past. We want good football management from grassroots up to national team level, then to all Warriors fans let us always keep supporting our team up to the Afcon finals in Cameroon. Our hope is to go past group stages and it would be a great achievement for Zimbabwean football,” he said.
