Gorowa first home match fizzles into draw

By Augustine Hwata

Zimbabwe…………………………………………………….(0) 1

Mauritius……………………………………………………..(0) 1

(Zimbabwe win 4-1 on aggregate)

Newly appointed Warriors coach Ian Gorowa’s first home match in charge of the team fizzled into a draw against lightweights Mauritius in an African Nations Championship qualifier at Rufaro yesterday but the former Black Rhinos striker said he is now bracing for the next assignment against Zambia at the same venue next Sunday.

Gorowa had taken off well in his first game that was an away assignment, as his troops beat the Indian Ocean islanders 3-0 in Curepipe, but was left a little bit disappointed yesterday after they failed to utilise their advantage at home.

Despite being held to a 1-1 draw by Mauritius, Zimbabwe have progressed to the last qualifying round of the African Nations Championships where they will play Zambia in Harare this coming weekend.

Zambia booked their place into this stage after dismissing Botswana 2-0 at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola on Saturday after the two sides had drawn 1-1 at Molepolole Sports Complex in Botswana last weekend.

A former Warriors striker, Gorowa, had hoped to notch his second win in as many games and appeared on course when Masimba Mambare gave the Warriors the lead in the 85th minute in yesterday’s match at Rufaro.

Skipper Mambare, who blew hot and cold during the match, got to the end of a delivery from Tawanda Muparati following some good work on the left by Ali Sadiki.

FC Platinum winger Sadiki had beaten Winny Calambe and Chandravah Veeranah before whipping a cross that found Muparati who then laid for Mambare, wide on the right, to take a low shot that beat Mauritian goalkeeper Jose Ivahn Marse.

After the goal, the Warriors, who played in fits and starts during the whole afternoon, appeared to have found their groove and even the fans got little value for their money as Zimbabwe created more scoring chances.

But for all their industry after taking the lead, Zimbabwe failed to beat the visitors’ defence for the second time with Mauritius’ Denis Dookee becoming a favourite of the home fans.

Zimbabwe were then caught off guard when Stephane Pierre curved open the right wing before crossing a highball that Calambe headed into the far end of the post past goalkeeper Tafadzwa Dube in the 89th minute for the visitors’ equaliser.

The late goal by the islanders took some gloss off Gorowa’s first game at home but the coach said he will put that behind as he braces for the coming edition of the ‘Battle of the Zambezi’.

Gorowa watched last month as Zimbabwe lost the Cosafa Castle Cup final 2-0 to Zambia and he believes they have to get a positive result at home before the reverse fixture of the CHAN match.

“It was a good experience to begin with, but I am a bit disappointed that we did not win today’s (yesterday) game.

“We wanted to win this game for the crowd at home but unfortunately it wasn’t to be. From my side as a coach I am happy with the performance but I am disappointed by the result,” he said.

There was little that an outdrawn Dube, who was barely tested during the game, could do as Calambe took his goal.

“The players were trying to push forward and we were hit on the counter.

“Probably it was an element of lack of concentration because they thought they had won the game and in the end Mauritius scored the goal.

“Before the game we had told the players that we did not want to concede any goals because we wanted to come out with a clean sheet.

“We must try to make sure that in every game we play, we do not concede any goals, especially at home.

“It was naïve for the players (to concede the goal). Maybe they should have done better defensively,” said Gorowa.

The former Mamelodi Sundowns coach said he will have some homework to do before they engage Zambia after noticing some loopholes in the game against Mauritius.

Zimbabwe wasted numerous chances with Nelson Maziwisa wasting more than three scroring opportunities.

“We have to change our mindset. There is something that we picked up especially in the last third that we have to work on.

“We created a lot of chances but we failed to score. The fact is that we have gone through but it’s a huge disappointment that we were playing in front of our home crowd and could not win the game.

“We ended up playing for a draw. I think we played much better against Mauritius in Mauritius where we could have scored six or seven goals.

“But playing at home brings a little bit more pressure on the boys. So I think it is an advantage if we play the first leg at home (against Zambia),” said Gorowa.

While his predecessor Klaus Dieter Pagels chose to call his brand of football tiki-taka, Gorowa said he does not have a name for his type of play that thrives on using the wings.

“I do not know what tiki-taka is. All we are trying to do is to play a brand of football in which we try to ulitise our width.

“Everytime we go forward, we try to use the flanks and put in crosses. I think that’s the way football should be played,” said Gorowa.

While Gorowa had mixed feelings over the match, the Mauritians, who are ranked 182nd in the world and 47th in Africa out of 52 Confederation of African Football members, were happy with the result.

Mauritius team manager Reuben Ballen said they had put up a much improved performance than in the first leg.

“Some of our players are not full-time footballers and our football league is semi-professional and it’s not very high in standard.

“We came here expecting a positive result and we got it. It was good to get a 1-1 draw away from home.

“In the home match, it was raining and the weather was not good for us,” said Ballen.

Teams:

Zimbabwe: T. Dube, M. Mambare, E. Chipeta, N. Mazisiwa, D. Chafa, B. Chimwamuchere, C. Sibanda (T. Muparati 46th min), M. Ncube (T. Ndoro 60th minute), P. Moyo (A. Sadiki 75th minute), P. Jaure, H. Zvirekwi

Mauritius: Jose Marse, Collin Bell, Chiffone Guiyano, (A. Coco 71st minute) Hendrick Buckland (Denis Dookee 46th minute), Frabrice Pithia (A. Patate 46th minute), Chandravah Veeranah, Cedrel Permal, Joye Estazi, Stephanie Pierre, Christhophe Bazerque, Winny Calambe. The Herald