Warriors bask in glory of win over Zambia

By Petros Kausiyo

WARRIORS coach Ian “Dibango’’ Gorowa has attributed his team’s sensational upset of Zambia in an African Nations Championships decider to determination and self-belief in the squad and paid glowing tribute to his players and technical crew for uniting to achieve their success.

The Warriors finally put smiles on the faces of their long-suffering fans when they booked their ticket to the CHAN finals in South Africa, next January, following a work-man-like show that stunned Zambia in a second round, second leg tie at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola on Saturday.

The Warriors against Chipolopolo tie was one of two encounters to decide the winners of the Southern African zone ticket with the other being yesterday’s showdown between Mozambique and Angola in Maputo.

Midfielder Charles Sibanda grabbed the goal that sent the Warriors through and also ended Chipolopolo’s proud nine-match unbeaten record at the magnificently built Levy Mwanawasa Stadium, which has become their favourite hunting ground since it was opened in May last year.

Sibanda struck the priceless goal in the 63rd minute to end the party mood that had been swirling among the 20 000 crowd in the stadium and in the copper belt town of Ndola, on a sun-drenched afternoon.

It had always been a tall order for the Warriors to secure qualification after they had been restricted to a 0-0 draw by Chipolopolo in the first leg a week before, with the way the senior team struggled with their game lending strong credence to those fears.

After all, the Warriors had been struggling terribly in their international assignments this year, undergoing their worst World Cup qualifying campaign in which they remain winless and anchor the Group G standings with just a point.

Although they had posted some sporadic wins such as the triumphs over Malawi and Lesotho in the Cosafa Cup and Botswana in an international friendly, the Warriors seemed to have adopted a new culture of losing, especially when it mattered most and were facing a confidence crisis.

But Gorowa, thrust into the hot seat when German Klaus Dieter Pagels’ government-to-government contract between Zimbabwe and Germany expired, sought to overcome that losing culture by instilling a sense of self-confidence in his troops.

Gorowa had part of his personality shaped by spending some of his early life attested to the Zimbabwe National Army when he was a bustling forward for Black Rhinos and like a true soldier, he refused to throw in the towel after the first leg and kept on insisting that he had seen enough to be convinced that the Warriors would triumph in Zambia if only they applied themselves well.

The coach said although Chipolopolo were naturally the favourites following the profile they have built in the last two years, in which they won the African Cup of Nations in 2012 and the Cosafa Cup this year, he had detected some weaknesses in the opponents which he wanted to exploit and claimed that he had never felt under any pressure after their 0-0 draw.

Gorowa said although there had been some individuals like Partson Jaure, Danny Phiri, George Chigova, Donald Ngoma and Charles Sibanda, who had stood out in the latest of the Battle of Zambezi in Ndola, he felt the Warriors’ success was a result of teamwork. The Warriors even surprised their fans by taking to the battle in a new all-white strip, ostensibly “to bring a change in fortunes’’ as they had failed to win in the last two games they had worn their green and gold Puma strips.

“I think it was a collective team effort that won the day for us, from the players, the technical team and the administration, everyone who played a role in this game.

“We are feeling great with this result because we broke Zambia’s virginity. I never doubted our capacity to beat Zambia even though we were disappointed we didn’t win at home. The most important thing was to convince my players that we could do it.

“The good thing is that the players believed, my technical team believed and that was the unity we needed. It was not easy playing at home but I have been telling my players that they need to start getting used to such situations because even Zambia realised that it is not easy to play at home because there is always pressure.’’

Gorowa said the disruptions they had endured in the build up to the two-legged tie against Chipolopolo had not helped their cause but the coach said he was happy to note that the core of the team had remained focused.

“I did not want to make too much noise about it because some people would have thought we were making excuses but before the first leg we just met on a Friday after the players had been involved in games on Wednesday and Thursday, then we had some injuries and we had other players leaving for trials.

“You cannot stand in a way of a player if an opportunity has arisen for him and that is why we let Tendai Ndoro go to South Africa. I also think that his going to South Africa opened the door for Ngoma to prove himself and he really did well to harass those Zambian defenders and after running himself to a standstill and we rested him towards the end.’’

Ngoma, who set up Sibanda for the winner with a fine cross, was one of the changes that Gorowa made to the team that had started the first leg at Rufaro with the FC Platinum forward coming in for Chicken Inn’s Ndoro, who had gone for trials at Mpumalanga Black Aces in South Africa.

Dynamos goalkeeper Chigova gatecrashed into the travelling party to Zambia and found himself being trusted to keep goals in a move Gorowa later revealed was as tactical as his surprise decision to relegate Highlanders midfielder Peter Moyo onto the bench.

“We had decided two weeks ago that Chigova needed to be part of the team and I thought his height would help with the crosses because Zambia had been trying to bombard us from the flanks. There is nothing wrong with Tafadzwa (Dube) but for this match I wanted to surprise our opponents and I think we caught them by surprise.

“We also discussed and agreed that this was not Rio’s game because we had changed the game plan and we decided to use two defensive midfielders instead,’’ Gorowa said.

Yet the Warriors could have with better precision and luck eventually ran out 4-0 winners as Devon Chafa, skipper Masimba Mambare and left wingback Milton Ncube all came very close to scoring. Chafa’s 56th minute rising shot from 25 metres out appeared to beat Chipolopolo goalkeeper Danny Munyao only for him to have the slightest touch that forced the ball to ricochet off the upright post for a corner.

The Highlanders pair of Mambare (74th minute) and Ncube four minutes later just lacked composure with a yawning goal in front of them after the Warriors had caught the hosts at sea from swift counter attacks.

But for all their disappointing shows, the Warriors will feel they gained some measure of atonement by qualifying for the CHAN tournament for a third successive time, a feat that Gorowa wants his team to build on with the vision being to secure a place at the 2015 Nations Cup in Morocco.

The Warriors will for now bask in the glory of being among the 16 teams at the CHAN finals who include hosts South Africa, African champions Nigeria, who battle it out at the competition to be staged in three of the 2010 World Cup venues — Polokwane, Bloemfontein and Cape Town.

Burkina Faso, Burundi, Congo Brazzavile, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco and Uganda had earlier qualified from their various regions for the tournament which will run from January 11 to February 1. The Herald