Egypt hammer Zimbabwe Warriors

By Augustine Hwata

Zimbabwe……………………………………..(1) 2

Egypt……………………………………………(2) 4

HARARE – The Warriors were forced to chase the game as early as the fifth minute and by the time the match ended yesterday, Zimbabwe had crumbled to their biggest defeat, in terms of goals conceded, in international football on home soil.

The senior national football team had never conceded more than three goals at home in any match since Independence, but yesterday the Warriors conceded four and the two goals they scored will do little to mask the way they collapsed on the big stage.

That this came in a World Cup qualifier, in a campaign where the Warriors remain marooned on just one point out of a possible 12, rubbed salt into the gashing wounds.

The Warriors’ worst defeats were registered on foreign soil when Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cote d’Ivoire pumped five goals past Zimbabwe but never had they conceded more than three times at home.

Veteran striker Mohamed Aboutrika gave the North Africans the lead in the fifth minute when he received a fine pass from Ahmed Fathy to drill the ball past Washington Arubi in goals for Zimbabwe.

As he charged at goal, the veteran Al Ahly player Aboutrika managed to shake off the challenges of leftback Ocean Mushure and centre-back Felix Chindungwe before finding the target when some players had hardly made any meaningful contact with the ball.

But the nearly 17 000 fans who came to the stadium were jerked from their seats when Knowledge Musona got to the end of a good pass by Tafadzwa Rusike to fire Zimbabwe level, with a delicate chip in the 20th minute.

A few minutes earlier, Cuthbert Malajila had his effort, off a delivery from Archford Gutu, blocked by Egypt captain Wael Gomaa.

Lively FC Basel winger, Mohamed Salah, then gave himself an early birthday present when he scored a memorable hat-trick in condemning Zimbabwe to a defeat that deeply divided the football opinion on whether Klaus Dieter Pagels’ project was bearing any fruits.

Salah, gifted with intelligent runs, both on and off the ball, beat Arubi in the 40th minute when Chicken Inn defender Chindungwe failed to deal with a goalkick flighted by Sherif Ekrami.

Chindungwe, who was clearly overwhelmed by the occasion as he played his first competitive game for Zimbabwe, was pulled out for Khama Billiat at start of the second half as Patson Jaure moved in central defence while Hardlife Zvirekwi shifted to right-back.

The Warriors showed a few moments of life when Knowledge Musona spotted his former teammate at Aces Academy, Billiat, but the latter’s final delivery lacked precision in the 48th minute.

Ocean Mushure’s appeal for a penalty was turned down when Fathy handled a goal-bound cross and Salah, who turns 21 this Saturday, then scored a gift-wrapped goal when Denver Mukamba made a mess on a move near the centre and the winger pounced on the ball.

He overrode a tackle from Lincoln Zvasiya and then coolly buried his effort, across goal, in the 68th minute, leaving Arubi livid at Mukamba for the costly error. The former Dynamos playmaker tried to make amends with a thunderbolt that was touched out for a corner in the 78th minute.

Zvasiya then headed in his first goal for the senior national team when he connected a free-kick whipped in by Mushure on the right in the 81st minute as Zimbabwe once again gave the nation a glimmer of salvaging something from the tie.

Ovidy Karuru came close in the box but the day belonged to Salah who got to the end of a pass from Ahmed Shedid to complete his hat-trick in the 84th minute.

After the match, fans expressed their anger towards Pagels who, however, blamed his defence despite his glaring shortcomings.

“We created a lot of scoring chances and I think ball possession in the second half was 80 per cent in our favour but we lost the match on individual mistakes at the back,” said Pagels.

“Egypt did not create as many chances as we did but they managed to score. Our problem is in defence where we created the major chances for Egypt.

“We have to identify new players but in Zimbabwe this is not going to be easy to achieve because there is no way in which we are going to come up with regional tournaments like in other countries where we look for players.

“The only way is to go to matches like PSL and try to get players but I think we still have to do a lot in the area of developing youth football so that it brings a lot of younger players.

“I am sure that if we can have these regional tournaments with players from lower divisions then we can find at least four or five players but it’s not possible because of financial constraints to host the tournaments.”

In the second half Pagels introduced Billiat, Mukamba and Karuru — three players many fans had expected to see in the starting line-up.

“I do not think that we could have done any better had we started with the players. What we saw in Khama and Denver from the match was not what they had been showing at training,” said Pagels.

“I told them to go in and give pace to the game but they didn’t but I was impressed by the way we attacked and that gives hope for the future.”

Egypt coach, Bob Bradley, conceded there were times that the Warriors really gave the Pharaohs a scare.

“Zimbabwe really have a good team for the future. They had so many attacking options that were dangerous and some good off-the ball running too,” said Bradley.

“We feel good by the win because Mohamed Salah had a great match but the contributions came from all parts of the field. We found some good moments in attack and Salah managed to take advantage of them.This was simply the key to the match.

“We analysed the last match against Zimbabwe on the things that we felt we did not do well and needed to improve. We knew that this match would be a big test for us and now we will continue to work hard because we expect a difficult game in Mozambique.

“The pressure is what we put on ourselves. The mission is to go to the World Cup but what brings us together will motivate us and this is the pressure that we have on ourselves to make that happen.” The Herald

Teams

Zimbabwe: W. Arubi. H. Zvirekwi, O. Mushure, F. Chindungwe (Billiat 46th min ), P. Jaure, L. Zvasiya, A. Gutu, T. Rusike, K. Musona, C. Malajila, D. Chafa, (D. Mukamba 60th min), (O. Karuru min).

Egypt: Sharif Elkramy, Ahmed Fathy, Ahmed Shedeed (Ibrahim 85th min) Wael Gomaa, Ahmed Eid (Ahmed Mohammed 68th min) Mohmoud Fathalla, Ahmed Hegazy, Mohammed El Neni, Hossam Ashour, Mohamed Salah, Mohammed Aboutreika