Zimbabwe face Nigeria, South Africa, Benin, Rwanda and Lesotho in their quest to reach World Cup 2026 finals, a mission impossible in the years since independence in 1990.
After reinstatement to the football family after 18 months of isolation fans and players couldn’t wait to pit their wits against Africa’s best.
Fans can still remember the last time in 2001 when 13 fans died after South Africa upset Zimbabwe at the National Sports’ stadium 2-0.
Charles Mabika will wince a bit as he remembers losing his commentary job after saluting Austin Jay Jay Okocha on fire for Nigeria in a 3-0 win at National Sports Stadium in Harare before conceding 5 in Lagos to the same opponent away.
Tormentor-in-chief Okocha may be gone, but so is hero Peter Ndlovu now retired termed the everyday wonder or ‘Nsukuzonke. Rarely will a visiting opponent receive the same begrudging respect that turned into awe as Okocha did that day in Harare.
Fans were provoked by his unerring free kicks during warm-up. But not conceding any free kicks near the home box was not enough as Okocha displayed a dribbling and feinting masterclass bar none.
The gap maybe closer between the rest of Africa, Nigeria and Cameroon than it was 20 years ago. But Lincoln Mutasa will be hard-pressed to find the coach for Mission Impossible as a place in the World cup finals beckons.
This has never been done before although the team of 1992-4 came closest.
It had Peter, Madinda and Adam Ndlovu, Francis Shonhayi, Benjamin Nkonjera, Memory Mucherahowa, Bruce Grobbelaar, Melusi Nkiwane, Willard Khumalo, Rahman Gumbo, Vitalis Takawira, Wilfred Mugeyi, Ephraim Chawanda, Henry Mckop, Norman Mapeza, John Phiri, Alois Bunjira, Ernest Chirambadare, Brenna Msiska.
But this All-stars team came within a painful 90 minutes in Cameroon and a penalty save Grobbelaar failed to keep out on the rebound after an initial save.
But many will remember the first game between Zimbabwe and South Africa after the end of apartheid played at National Sports Stadium in August 1992. The Sunday Mail dropped lineups for the much awaited game with Zimbabwe as underdogs.
Missing were the likes of Moses Chunga, Japhet Mparutsa, Alexander Maseko and other seasoned Warriors of the previous decade.
Was this suicide and possible death by football for Fabisch? The German coach was vindicated when possibly the youngest starting lineup by a Zimbabwe national team featuring some unknown players like Melusi Nkiwane of Zimbabwe Saints did very well.
But few expected a Peter Ndlovu penalty, Rahman Gumbo’s long range effort and Vitalis Takawira’s goals to give Zimbabwe a 3-1 lead against South Africa. Even fewer people expected the cherry on the cake. A Peter Ndlovu solo goal that contends for his best ever.
Ndlovu, then injury free and about 21 closed down an SA left back to the corner flag. As they started out Ndlovu had no chance to reach the ball, no right even. But his pace took him there.
Pressing football at it’s best. He roasted the tiring left back. He dummied 2 defenders and went between them. He feinted movement with the ball from his right the left, a change of direction like a car indicating only to pass into the empty net with his left leg as an after-thought.
A week later he was to become the first African to play in the English Premier League. In 4 years’ time English defenders had somehow legally inflicted injuries on Peter that slowed him down considerably. But not before scoring a hat-trick at Anfield, the first by an opposition player, a record broken by Trossard of Brighton only last season, 3 decades later.
If fans expected more of the same in 2001 Delron Buckley and Benny Mccarthy had other ideas as they scored for South Africa. The riots that followed took 13 lives and the match was abandoned.
It will take another class of 1992 for The Warriors to even dream of going to the World Cup. New (ZIFA normalisation committee) chairman Lincoln Mutasa and his team have their work cut out.
We summarise below the best efforts so far in trying to qualify for the World Cup and Afcon.
In 2018 Zimbabwe failed to field a team after being banned for not paying coach Valinhos his salary.
Leo Mugabe replaced Trevor Carelse Juul in 1993 in the middle of the most enticing qualification campaigns to date which saw a 13-match unbeaten run by the Warriors. Zimbabwe won 3 and drew 3 games without losing a game.
An Afcon home draw against a Zambian team recovering from an air disaster proved costly back when only 10 teams qualified for the finals. Zambia won the group only to lose in the final which had a memorable and mesmerizing performance from Kalusha Bwalya in a losing cause.
In the World Cup qualifiers Zimbabwe topped their group after winning 4 and drawing 2 with no defeat to lead the group with 10 points, 2 more than Egypt.
Africa has simply never had enough World Cup places compared to other continents. There were only 3 places in 1994 and 5 in 1998. Power houses Cameroon, Egypt and Morocco qualified in 1994.
Agent Sawu (6) came second only to Rashidi Yekini (8) as top scorer. Peter and Adam Ndlovu had 2 each, Henry McKop 1 (from left back).
McKop came second as Soccer Star of the year as a striker in 1988. He later left for Germany and then England. This generation illustrated the depth of soccer talent in Zimbabwe.
In the 1996 Afcon qualifiers Zimbabwe beat Cameroon 4-1 before being hit hard by the withdrawal of Swaziland and Lesotho which resulted in annulled results that cost Zimbabwe.
In the days leading up to one of the crucial games against the DRC, Leo Mugabe’s mortal battle with highly popular and successful coach Reinhard Fabisch ended when he fired Fabisch with a few matches to go with Mugabe insisting the Warriors play a qualifier in DRC in the middle of the highly infectious Ebola disease.
The decision proved costly as Zimbabwe lost 5-0 and failed to qualify for both tournaments when Africa had only 12 places at the Cup of Nations and 3 places at the World Cup. Leading players boycotted the tie resulting in a 5-0 defeat.
For the 1998 World Cup Vitalis Takawira top scored for Zimbabwe with 4 goals while Kennedy Chihuri, Edelbert Dinha, Adam Ndlovu, Agent Sawu and Claudius Zviripayi had a goal each.
The group had Cameroon, Togo and Angola. Zimbabwe managed 4 loses, 1 draw and one win. Cameroon proved a thorn in the flesh with home and away wins against Zimbabwe. In the previous second round of qualifiers Zimbabwe beat Cameroon 1-0.
In the 2002 Afcon qualifiers Zimbabwe managed a measly 2 home wins and 4 losses to finish bottom in a group with Ghana, DRC and Lesotho.
Benjani Mwaruwari, Wilfred Mugeyi, Peter Ndlovu and Luke Petros were the goal scorers.
In World Cup preliminary qualifiers promoted juniors Benjani Mwaruwari, Blessing Makunike, Nqobizitha Ncube joined Peter Ndlovu, Luke Petros in smashing Seychelles 6-0 over 2 legs.
2002 World Cup qualification remained elusive. 4 wins were not enough for Clemens Westerhof with 2 defeats including the 2-0 home loss against South Africa with Delron Buckley and Benny Mccarthy on the scoresheet in a game that saw 13 people died in a second half stampede in an abandoned riotous match.
Impressive debutant Desmond Maringwa had a bittersweet day as he got a career threatening injury that disrupted his Celta Vigo trials were many believe he would have successfully replaced Claude Makelele who was heading for Real Madrid.
2002-4. 4 wins, 1 loss (in the Seychelles debacle) and 1 draw (in Mali) proved enough for Sunday Marimo’s team to qualify in second place as a win now counted for 3 points from the previous 2.
An expanded tournament had 7 second placed teams qualifying for the finals. For many Sunday Marimo’s team have sentimental value even though they failed to make an impact at the actual tournament.
For the 2005-2006 Afcon tournament Zimbabwe qualified under Charles Mhlauri. Among the scorers were Peter Ndlovu, Shingi Kawondera, Tinashe Nengomasha, Benjani Mwaruwari and Ashley Rambanapasi were the scorers. But the World cup dream proved elusive.
The combined campaign for World Cup and Afcon saw Angola make a maiden appearance at the expense of Nigeria and Zimbabwe. 4 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses for Zimbabwe were not enough in a group with 6 teams.
Zimbabwe have qualified 5 times to the expanded Afcon tournament but never for the World Cup. The country qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations in 2004 (Chidzambwa) and 2006 (Mhlauri), exiting in the first round, and again in 2017 (Pasuwa), 2019 (Chidzambwa) and 2021 (Mapeza).
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