The ManicaPost
Moffat Mungazi’s FOOTY FOOTNOTES
We, the fans back home, are sharing our boys’ dreams of heroic exploits in the land of the pyramids!
We are walking with them on this journey!
Go Warriors Go!
Goals Warriors Goals!
WITH their Cosafa Cup flame extinguished in excruciating fashion after being eliminated from the competition by arch nemesis Zambia, whom they had defeated in the last two finals, Zimbabwe now seek to ignite the spark for a trailblazing run at the Africa Cup of Nations finals which kick off tonight (Friday) in Egypt.
While the Warriors have been the most domineering force in the regional tournament – where they have won the Cup a record times (six) and won the most matches (15) – the same cannot not be said about how they have fared at the more prestigious continental competition, which brings together the football aristocrats of Africa on one stage as they battle for supremacy.
Following the Cosafa heartbreak, focus and attention immediately shifted to Afcon as it comes hot on the heels of the former.
While winning the Cosafa — which we were beginning to grow fond of turning into our personal property given our storied accomplishments in the annual event — would have lend a spring to our step going into the Afcon finals, our work is already cut out and we get down to serious business.
We stay on the hunt for more glory.
We seek solace from Afcon success.
Although we lost in the precursor competition, the valuable lessons we gained from that ruined former campaign should provide the right tonic for a fruitful outing at the latter tournament. The bronze medals we picked at Cosafa should inspire a golden run to the farther stages of the Afcon competition.
Zimbabwe are seeking to progress to the knockout stages at the biennial soccer fête for the first time ever, with the senior men’s soccer team having faltered at the first hurdle on each of the past three occasions they have participated in the tournament (2004, 2006 and 2017).
We can use the pain we suffered from our recent elimination to heal the wounds of our Cosafa exit by booking a maiden berth beyond the Afcon group stages. This is where our consolation lies. We have the group to do the job and following the expansion and format changes of the tourney our chances of progressing look bright (the table-topping pair from each of the four-team six groups are joined by other four best third-placed teams to proceed to the next round).
The Warriors are in Group A together with record winners and hosts Egypt, against whom they clash in the competition’s curtain-raising contest tonight (Friday), as well as Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
Record-making coach Sunday “Mhofu” Chidzambwa and his charges are out chasing more history; to get where no other Warriors team has been before. We can conveniently borrow from our past Cosafa heroics and replicate that form at Afcon.
Mhofu is familiar with forays into the jungle of African football as he came to within 90 minutes of championing Dynamos’ victorious quest to conquer the continent’s premier club competition in the Caf Champions League in 1998. He is a pace-setting pioneer who boasts a “been-there-done-that” aura!
This band of Warriors can make and leave a mark at the Afcon finals. We will keep at it because they do not call us Warriors for nothing.
We, the fans back home, are sharing our boys’ dreams of heroic exploits in the land of the pyramids!
We are walking with them on this journey!
Go Warriors Go!
Goals Warriors Goals!
If it is about football that you care let’s share the cheer because we are made for the game, mad about the game!
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