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THE senior national football team’s 1-0 away win on Friday night over neighbours Botswana in a tightly contested Afcon qualifying round tie, that ensured our qualification to the finals of Africa’s biggest football tournament proved why they are called The Warriors.
While it’s no longer a huge surprise for Zimbabwe to qualify for the Afcon finals, what remains a surprise is the manner in which they executed their fifth qualification after having done so in 2004, 2006, 2017 and 2019.
Shoddy preparations that include star players failing to turn up for such important fixtures and others jetting into the country a few days or hours before the tie were once again the order of the day.
However, that made the situation worse this time around was that there was no activity on the domestic league due to the Covid-19 preventative measures.
Save for league champions FC Platinum’s dalliance on the African Safari, local players are yet to kick a ball in a competitive match on the domestic scene.
Despite the above chaotic preparations, Warriors gaffer, Zdravko Logarusic, during a midweek presser, remained upbeat that his charges will win against both the Zebras and Zambia in the 2021 Afcon qualifying round.
That he became the first foreign coach to qualify the Warriors to the Afcon finals is no mean feat given that more popular coaches in the mould of the late German, Reinhard Fabisch, had failed to do so with great players such as Peter Ndlovu and Bruce Grobbelaar.
We urge the national football body Zifa, the government and the corporate world to support the gallant Warriors financially.
While the remaining qualifying fixture to be fulfilled tomorrow at the National Sports Stadium against Chipolopolo is a dead rubber, we should not relax and continue to pop champagne, but must take advantage of the high level match to begin adequate preparations for the real deal, the Afcon finals.
If a depleted squad without France-based star player Tino Kadewere and Khama Billiard could against all odds pulls us through to the finals in Cameroon, our chances for rich pickings are brighter with our best team that is buttressed by adequate preparations.
The Zimbabwean community says: Go Warriors, Go!!!.
