Antipas puts on a brave face

Warriors coach Joey Antipas believes despite the disappointing goalless draw against Botswana in their 2021 AFCON qualifier at the National Sports Stadium yesterday, Zimbabwe can still turn around their fortunes when they cafe Zambia in Lusaka on Tuesday.

The national team travels to Lusaka to play the wounded Chipolopolo who were hammered 5-0 by Algeria in another Group H match on Thursday.

“It was a disappointing result at home and we should have won it. The guys did everything that they could do to try and win the game but unfortunately not.

‘‘They created numerous chances but we failed to score. We were lacking the cutting edge in attack but overall l think we played well, had chances and dominated but it’s all about putting the ball behind the nets. All we need to do is try and rectify against Zambia,” said Antipas after the match.

Antipas said the Zebras of Botswana are no longer pushovers.

“All we need is to keep our heads up and try rectify for our game against Zambia on Tuesday. Botswana have vastly improved. They went to Egypt and got a good scoreline.

‘‘It’s a big disappointment, we should have won at home since it was an opening game of the qualifiers. A point is a point though we would have loved three,” Antipas said.

The Chicken Inn gaffer added that the visitors also defended well. “One thing is Botswana defended very well, they had one or two players to come and pressurise our boys whenever we had the ball.

“It was very difficult to penetrate them. We have to improve on that and we also need to be very patient”, he said.

Botswana assistant coach Caroline Braun was happy with the draw.

“We are pleased to draw against our opponent Zimbabwe. It was a tough game. We still have a lot to improve because we are playing against Algeria on Monday, they are good opponents.

“The boys fought, we could have done a lot of things better when it comes to attacking and defending, so we still have a long way to go” she said.

Antipas said he was also surprised on how Harare socialite Pokello Nare gained access to the national team and posted pictures with the players ahead of the match. A number of supporters felt that sort of distracted the players before such a crucial game. The Herald