By Blessing Malinganiza
Warriors striker Tinotenda Kadewere was on target for his French side Le Havre on Tuesday night, scoring his 8th goal of the season.
Kadewere, who has just returned from an injury he picked up a week after after the Warriors game against Congo Brazzaville, says it felt great to score and it boosts his confidence ahead of AFCON finals.
“It felt good to score last (Tuesday) night considering that was my return from a minor injury I got just a week after coming back from National duty,” he said.
The 23-year-old’s goal was the only goal of the match as Le Havre beat AJ Auxerre in their own backyard.
Kadewere said he hopes the 79th minute goal will mark the beginning of a good spell ahead of Afcon.
“It is everyone dreams to always participate in big tournaments like these for your country and I’ve been working very very hard and taking good care of myself also to be ready come June.
“I think the Afcon draw is very good and being the lowest ranked team gives us more strength and courage to do well and perform at our best for the whole nation and make history.
“I am really looking forward to Afcon this year and the fact that it will be my second time going there makes me more confident. But for this year want it to be different; I want to get to play and do well as it also gives me and everyone in the team the chance to be noticed worldwide,” he said.
The Le Havre forward added his sentiment on the prospect of facing Egyptian Star Mahomed Salah in the opening game,
“We all have respect for the Africas finest player this year, but I think come 21 June it is going to be a different story we are up for a win so we will definitely do anything to stop him and his team. And for that matter we both have two legs and anything can happen; you never know after the game he might go to one of us and ask for a shirt swap lol,” he quipped.
Kadewere says he still remembers how The Warriors lost 2-1 to Egypt at the same tournament in 2004 and he hopes to make amends.
“We still have those memories in us and I remember that game was watching with my dad and I even cried after the game so now I think we have to make it up to our legends and possibly get a victory for them and the whole nation,” he said.
‘the draw is a fair one we just need to be at our best and by that we can get maximum points and go to the next round. All teams in our group are very very good but we have faith and belief that this is a new era.
“Like I said before we have the potential and capability of going to the next round our group has good teams but we cannot say it is tough we just need to give 110 percent every game.
“It is not going to be easy to be facing big players plying their trade in top leagues but it’s also an honour because to be successful you need to come up against successful people. So yeah, we’re looking forward to the best and I’m sure it is going to be different from the past Afcon tournaments we have been to,” said Kadewere. H-Metro
