Lesotho hold Warriors in COSAFA tie

By Augustine Hwata

Lesotho…………………….(0) 2

Zimbabwe………………….(1) 2

THE Warriors no longer have their destiny, in the 2009 Cosafa Senior Challenge Cup, in their hands after twice blowing the lead to settle for a heartbreaking draw against a battling and disciplined Lesotho at Rufaro yesterday.

Needing nothing short of victory to be assured of a place in the quarter finals, Zimbabwe chose to disappoint the good crowd that turned up at Rufaro by allowing Lesotho to steal a point.

Cuthbert Malajila scored when the game was still in its infancy with Evans Gwekwerere adding the other goal in the second half. But twice the Crocodiles fought their way back with Thabiso Maile cancelling the lead, on both occasions, from the penalty spot.

Striker Musso Sello earned the two priceless penalties, first after Method Mwanjali’s strong tackle and then when he fell under a Washington Arubi challenge in the dying stages of the game. Zimbabwe, however, will feel hard done by Israel Ramocha as the Botswana referee appeared to be giving them a raw deal with his decision to penalise Mwanjali, when the Warriors’ skipper cleared the ball first, a questionable one.

Then Ramocha failed to award the Warriors a clear penalty in the 76th minute when Ntobo Moitheri handled a ball, after failing to deal with a delivery sent in by Asani Nhongo, as he fell inside his box. The Warriors appealed but the appeal fell on deaf ears as the Botswana referee — who appeared ready to penalise the hosts — turned a blind eye to the incident to the disappointment of the home crowd.

Before penalising Mwanjali for the first penalty, Ramocha had twice cautioned the Warriors’ skipper for his strong challenges on Mothoana Bokang and Sello. However, it was a close call when Mwanjali challenged Musso in the box as the Zimbabwean managed to take away the ball with his opponent getting to the ground after losing possession. Somehow Ramocha pointed to the spot.

Now the race in Group A has been complicated with Lesotho very much in the running for a place while Zimbabwe can only hope that Mauritius either draw with Lesotho, beat them or restrict the Crocodiles to a low-scoring loss.

A win for Mauritius will see the Indian Ocean Islanders getting to three points while Lesotho will have one and Zimbabwe topping the group with four. A draw tomorrow means that Lesotho can finish with two points and Mauritius one with Zimbabwe on four.

Lesotho can go through if they beat Mauritius by a four-goal winning margin or a three goal winning margin in which they score more than three goals.
Warriors coach Sunday Chidzambwa acknowledged that he will only wait for fate to take its course.

“Twice we took the lead and twice we blew it. In a game of football, if you miss a lot of chances like we did, you are bound to be punished. “We made two costly mistakes and we lost two points for that. “Now qualification to the next round is no longer in our hands, but that happens in football,” said Chidza-mbwa.

The Zimbabwe coach believed that his side could have wrapped up the game in the first half but were wasteful. “We created chances in the first half and could have gone 3-0 up,” he said. While Chidzambwa has left everything to chance, Lesotho coach Leslie Notsi was upbeat about his chances of a victory that will take them into the quarter-finals.

“I am very optimistic on our chances now to go to the next round. “But I expect the game to be very tough although I see ourselves winning,” said Notsi. Notsi said he had a lot of respect for Zimbabwe, but he had also done his homework well before getting to yesterday’s encounter.

“We played them in a friendly before and saw how they played. “The Zimbabwe team is strong, has speed but like the coach (Chidzambwa) has said, they do not score a lot of goals,” he said. Zimbabwe were the first to settle down when Malajila shook the net with a low shot in the sixth minute as he beat Sam Ketsekile in goals.

Notsi was forced to pull out the goalkeeper in the eighth minute after he failed to continue with the game following a collision with Warriors midfielder Archieford Gutu as they went for a high ball. Zimbabwe continued probing for more goals with Gilbert Mapemba making fine runs on the right flank and whipping in crosses in the box.

However, Gwekwerere and Malajila could not punish the visitors. Ashley Rambanepasi, who was playing as the defensive midfielder, struggled in the early stages but picked up his game in the second period playing with the composure of a veteran.

While Zimbabwe had a lot of width, their penetration down the flanks did not produce the desired results because the crosses were not accurate and kept missing their target men. But the hosts always appeared the stronger side and, after Malajila did well to draw the ball across goal for Gwekwerere to slide home the second, they should have held on for victory.

However, in a moment of madness, goalkeeper Washington Arubi rushed off his line and his contact with the Lesotho forward was deemed too dangerous and penalised with a foul with just a few minutes remaining on the clock.
Lesotho duly converted from the spot – even though they needed to do it twice – after their attacking men wandered into the area before the spot-kick was taken.

Maile, cool as ever, duly sent Arubi the wrong way from the spot and the point had been won. Monomotapa winger Chris “Maskiri” Samakeri, whose stock is rising with each passing game, was voted the man-of-the-match after another impressive show in attack for the Warriors.

On reflection maybe Chidzambwa will realise that his decision to change the midfield backfired terribly while the one to throw in Phillip Marufu – who has been out of form on the domestic front – for Evans Gwekwerere, killed the attack.

Marufu’s inclusion in the squad has been one big talking point, given his poor form for Dynamos where he cannot even command a regular jersey, and he failed in his cameo role again yesterday.

Teams

Lesotho: S. Ketsekile (L. Tsoeunyane 8th minute), T. Maile, M. Marai, N. Moitheri, S. Khoto, M. Sello (M. Mokone 89th minute), M. Mokheti, T. Masaule, M. Boakang, L. Molefe (M. Katleho 75th minute), B. Moletsane

Zimbabwe: W. Arubi, G. Mapemba, A. Nhongo, D. Veremu, M. Mwanjali, A. Rambanapasi, C. Semakweri, T. Rusike, C. Malajila, A. Gutu (R. Zhuwawo 58th minute), E. Gwekwerere (P. Marufu 80th minute)

Group A

P W D L G A Pts

Zimbabwe 2 1 1 0 5 2 4
Lesotho 1 0 1 0 2 2 1
Mauritius 1 0 0 1 3 2 0