Afcon is class: Nhamoinesu

By Eddie Chikamhi

Warriors defender Costa Nhamoinesu reckons that the Africa Cup of Nations is another level of football which needs no short-cuts if the country is to be successful in future.The tough-tackling defender said the Warriors were exposed for their lack of experience at the big stage after finishing bottom of Group B which had continental heavyweights Senegal, Algeria and Tunisia.

The Warriors returned home yesterday with a point earned from the 2-2 draw against Algeria in the opening match of the tournament. Zimbabwe were completely outclassed in the other two games losing 0-2 to Senegal and 2-4 to Tunisia in their last match.

Nhamoinesu said the exposure to top level football was the biggest difference between Zimbabwe and their opponents.

He said in terms of playing experience, Zimbabwe could not compare with their rivals like Senegal who had almost the whole team commanding first team places in the top European leagues and pre-tournament favourites Algeria who also had a galaxy of stars.

The 31-year old defender, who plays for Sparta Prague, the most successful team in the Czech Republic, was among the four Europe-based players for the Warriors with the majority coming from South Africa or from home.

Knowledge Musona and Marvelous Nakamba, who play top-flight football in Belgium and the Netherlands, were the other Europe-based players who featured for the Warriors in Gabon.

Sweden-based Tino Kadewere was not given a run the whole tournament.

“As you know from West Africa there are a lot of players playing in the stronger leagues of the world so it all showed the difference between the levels of the game.

“But I hope in future it also improves in Zimbabwe especially if we improve our juniors we will get there,” said Nhamoinesu.

“What we learnt is that football is not only on the field of play. If you want to be really professional then football should come from the grassroots level.

“It’s something which has to come with the structures. If you look at the West African countries they have strong junior policy.

“They start from the beginning and young kids grow up in the system and it becomes easier for them to adjust. So I think in future it will be good for us also to put more emphasis on junior football so that we develop players from there.

“I think we have to put measures, we need to have people going all over the world because football is changing every day and we need to keep up with all these changes. Maybe we need people travelling around the world and getting new ideas on how to improve.

“But the journey to go to the AFCON and everything that we faced, we managed to face the strong giants in Africa and got a point out of that, I take it as something positive learning for us.”

Nhamoinesu was one of the players who did not rise to expectations as he featured in a shaky defence partnering Dynamos centre-back Elisha Muroiwa in the heart of the rearguard.

Zimbabwe’s defence was the team’s Achilles Heel.

Warriors coach Callisto Pasuwa also expressed his disappointment at his team’s sloppiness in defending their goal, especially in the first half.

“It was concentration in the first few minutes of the game. You can see that in all the three games we conceded in the opening 15 to 20 minutes and thereafter the guys will play well.

“If you make a mistake you are punished. That is football at a higher level,” said Pasuwa. Zimbabwe are now shifting attention to the 2019 edition of the AFCON tournament to be held in Cameroon. The Warriors have been drawn against Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Congo with the qualifiers scheduled to begin in June this year. The Herald