Warriors defensive shortcomings exposed

By Robson Sharuko

Senegal and Tunisia’s failure to score a goal in three-and-half hours of quarter-final battles on Saturday night as they crashed out of the 2017 Nations Cup finals has crudely exposed the Zimbabwe Warriors’ fatal defensive shortcomings in their Gabonese adventure.

The Lions of Teranga, billed as one of the favourites to win the tournament, were handed a painful defeat in their quarter-final showdown in Franceville by the resilient ‘Indomitable Lions’ of Cameroon after a battle that spilled into a penalty shoot-out.

Liverpool forward Sadio Mane, the most expensive African footballer in history, was the fall guy when he missed the decisive spot-kick for the Senegalese and then broke into tears after realising he had let his nation down.

Cameroon, without eight European-based players who snubbed the call for national duty in Gabon, including Liverpool defender Joel Matip, kept their nerves to convert all their spot-kicks and book a place in the semi-finals.

The Lions of Teranga had scored six goals in their three Group B matches, securing qualification into the quarter-finals with a game to spare, and even affording to rest their best players for the final game against Algeria.

The Carthage Eagles of Tunisia, who finished as runners-up in Group B, also went home in the first knock-out match after falling to a 0-2 defeat at the hands of Burkina Faso.

Having also scored six goals in their three group matches, the Tunisians failed to find a way past the Stallions of Burkina Faso in their quarter-final showdown.

Failure by both Tunisia and Senegal to score in their quarter-final matches, with the Lions of Teranga firing blanks over two hours of their battle against a resilient Cameroon, has put the Warriors’ defensive shortcomings in Gabon into focus.

Zimbabwe conceded six goals against the two countries in Group B — losing 0-2 to Senegal and then conceded four goals in an extraordinary first half that produced five goals against Tunisia as they eventually fell 2-4.

The six goals which the Warriors conceded against Senegal and Algeria came in 47 minutes and, after their elimination from the 2017 AFCON finals, the team’s defensive shortcomings in Gabon has received a lot of battering from analysts and commentators.

Interestingly, the Warriors didn’t change the make-up of their four-man defensive wall with Elisha Muroiwa, Costa Nhamoinesu, Hardlife Zvirekwi and Onsimor Bhasera playing in all their three group matches and putting in 270 minutes of shifts each.

Muroiwa, in particular, has come in for some harsh criticism although others have questioned why coach Callisto Pasuwa invested his trust in a defender who missed most of last season as he battled the cruelty of injuries.

Now and again, the Dynamos defender was found wanting, especially his take-off, awareness and positioning and he didn’t appear to have the confidence that only comes with playing competitively over some time.

Nhamoinesu, one of the heroes of the Warriors’ successful Nations Cup qualifying campaign, also struggled badly in Gabon.

The Sparta Prague defender conceded that the level he found at the AFCON finals was quite high.

But both Tunisia and Senegal failed to score in their two quarter-final matches appears to suggest that the Warriors had a defensive shield that could stand the heat at the AFCON finals.

Former Zimbabwe international midfielder Tinashe Nengomasha, who has been working as a pundit for SuperSport, criticised the Warriors’ defence after its shocking performance against Tunisia.

The Warriors had the worst defensive record in Gabon after they conceded eight goals in their three group matches while Togo had the second worst defence after letting in six goals in three games.

Debutantes Guinea Bissau conceded five goals in their three group matches at their first appearance at the AFCON finals.

The Warriors also had the worst goal difference (minus 4), together with Togo, while Guinea Bissau had a goal difference of minus three.

The eight goals the Warriors conceded in Gabon matched the number of goals the pioneer class of 2004 also conceded in Tunisia, largely because of the five goals they let in against Cameroon.

Those troops of Warriors, however, found a way to win a game and fell just one point short of the qualification tally which sent Algeria, a team they beat in their final group game, into the quarter-finals.

Then, just like now, the two teams which qualified from the Warriors group were both knocked out in the quarter-finals with Cameroon going down 1-2 to Nigeria and Algeria crashing to a 1-3 defeat to Morocco after extra-time.

Two years later, the Warriors conceded five goals in their three group matches and finished with the same number of points as Senegal who qualified for the quarter-finals by virtue of a superior goal difference.

The Senegalese beat Guinea 3-2 in their quarter-final while Nigeria, who topped the group, ousted Tunisia 6-5 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

However, both countries fell in the semi-finals. The Herald