Warriors finished 21 out of 24 teams

By Robson Sharuko

The Zimbabwe Warriors finished 21st out of 24 teams and suffered the worst single defeat at the 2019 Afcon finals after a four-goal battering at the hands of the DR Congo in a tournament that represented a giant step backwards for the team.

Only Burundi and Tanzania, who left this tournament goalless and pointless, and Namibia, who looked very lightweight in such great company, fared worse than the Warriors on the final table.

The Warriors, who only picked up a point in finishing bottom at the 2017 Nations Cup finals in Gabon, scored just a single goal in three games for the first time since they started playing at this level of the game, with Khama Billiat’s strike against Uganda the only time they breached the opposition defence.

In sharp contrast, they scored two goals, in the first half of the opening game against Algeria in Gabon two years ago, with Kuda Mahachi and Nyasha Mushekwi scoring for them while they also added a further two goals in a losing cause in the final game against Tunisia.

To put their impotence in this tournament into context, Peter Ndlovu, who led the Warriors at their first Afcon finals in Tunisia 15 years ago scored more goals (two) in one match against the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon who were then the defending champions.

Maybe we should have read the signs a long time ago but blinded by passion in our moments of triumph when these Warriors easily won their qualifying group with a two-point cushion over the DRC we didn’t pick out the frailty of a team whose eight of its nine goals had been scored by just two men.

Knowledge Musona had weighed in with five goals while Billiat scored three with the other goal coming from fullback, Ronald Pfumbidzai.

The Warriors were the only one of three teams, the others being debutants Mauritania and Angola, among those who finished the qualifying tournament with at least 11 points who did not make it to the knockout stages of this tourney. The Chronicle