Warriors fighting relegation battles

By Grace Chingoma

HARARE – Knowledge Musona and Khama Billiat are not only singing the blues, when it comes to the Warriors’ 2014 World Cup qualifying battle, but find themselves stuck in relegation battles at their clubs in foreign lands.

The Warriors are rock bottom of their qualifying group, eight points behind leaders Egypt with nine points to play for, ahead of the second round of qualifiers for a place in Brazil in June.

Their key players, too, find themselves engrossed in relegation dog-fights in their leagues and it doesn’t look good, right now, for Musona, the team’s kingpin, and Billiat.

Musona’s Augusburg could be relegated from the Bundesliga this year while his parent club TSG Hoffeinheim could also plunge out of a league that has produced the two teams to play in the Uefa Champions League final this year.

Another Warrior, Brian Abbas Amidu, also finds himself in another relegation battle in South Africa with his side, Black Leopards, bottom of the table.

Quincy Antipas’ Brondby are third from bottom with 31 points, in a 12-team Denmark league, which automatically relegates two teams every season. There are three matches left to play. Yesterday, Billiat and Amidu painted a gloomy picture and said the relegation battle was stressful.

Speaking from his base in South Africa yesterday, Black Leopards midfielder Amidu said he was still confident that his team, which is anchoring the log with 23 points with three games to go, can survive if they manage to secure maximum points in their remaining matches against Sundowns, Orlando Pirates and Free State Stars.

“We have to win matches and survive. But fighting relegation is stressful as no one wants to play in Division One,” said Amindu, one of the rising stars of the senior national team.

“What is more frustrating is l was nursing an ankle injury in the past four matches even though l was making it in the final team, l haven’t been playing.

“In the last match against Amazulu, l came from the bench, but that match was just a nightmare for us and up to now we don’t really know what happened for them to beat us 4-0. All the teams are now in good form and want to grab points.

“But we are also hopeful, that we will pick ourselves up and beat Pirates, like what Chippa did, and win the other matches as well and use it to our advantage. We have to survive and whether that means playing in the play-offs first, it doesn’t matter, as long as next year we are in the Premiership.”

For Billiat, things could not have been more different. Last year he was fighting for the league title with Ajax Cape Town and this year it has been a battle against relegation and they brightened their chances with a big and impressive 3-1 win over Kaizer Chiefs.

“We are now motivated and we will keep pushing. This demands a lot of work and we cannot relax in any one of remaining matches against Maritzburg and Golden Arrows,” said Billiat.

“But we are confident after a good perfomance against Kaizer Chiefs. We have a good leader (Muhsin Ertugral) who has exprience and has been pushing us to try and turn around the team’s fortunes around.

“And after Wednesday’s perfomance, we are confident that we can avoid the automatic relegation slot as well as the play-offs slot. This season has been different for me having played well and almost winning the league last year, it was an amazing experience, but now l have to feel the other side.

“But l am a player who always works hard and want to achieve my goal.”

It could be double trouble for Warriors’ chief striker Musona. His parent club TSG Hoffenheim and his current club Augusburg are both swimming in the murky waters of relegation.

Interestingly, one of these two teams is likely to be relegated, as two teams are automatically relegated in the 18-team Bundesliga while the third one will have to feature in the relegation play-offs.

TSG Hoffeinheim have 27 points with three games to go, a place above bottom-placed and relegated Greuther Furth, who have a mere 18 points from 31 matches. Greuther Furth are the club that almost signed Mamelodi Sundowns’ forward, Nyasha Mushekwi, at the beginning of the season.

Musona’s club Augusburg are on 16th position with 30 points and are behind Fortuna Düsseldorf who also have the same number of points but have a superior goal difference.

However, Augusburg are in a better position for a great escape than Hoffeinheim and would have to do more when they play FC Freiburg this weekend, before they host high-riding Bayern Munich who have already won the Bundesliga title.

They will close their season with a clash against relegated Greuther Furth. A lot has been said about Musona’s German adventure and the forward recently indicated that he would rather play in the second-tier of German football than return to South Africa after SuperSport United dangled a carrot.

Yesterday, Warriors’ coach, Klaus Dieter Pagels, said Musona’s future in Germany was secure, as the striker still has a five-year contract with Hoffeineheim, and it was important for him to stay in that country.

“Musona has a five-year contract with Hoffeinheim and for him it is important to stay in Germany. He can even play in the Second Bundesliga which is still a very strong league,” said Pagels.

“But Hoffeinheim have a good sponsorhip and it would be easy for them to return to the Bundesliga. I talked to him and he said he will stay in Germany whatever the outcome of his teams’ (relegation battles) at the end of the season.

“It is nonsense to think that he should return to South Africa. If Hoffeinheim wants to loan him to other Bundesliga teams or in the Second Bundesliga it would be good for him. He is a good player and can get another team in the Bundesliga to play for next season.”

The German coach highly rates his European trio of Musona, Antipas and Archford Gutu in his national team. Gutu is safe with his Swedish side Kalmer which uses the similar calendar to Zimbabwe national league of March to November. The Herald