The Herald
By Robson Sharuko, Senior Sports Editor, with additional reporting by Zvamaida Murwira
15 October 2012
ZIMBABWE plunged into mourning last night after the Warriors crashed, for the umpteenth time, at the final hurdle and blew away a golden chance to qualify for the 2013 Nations Cup finals in South Africa. Millions of football fans, stationed inside and outside the country, had been hoping for late night celebrations to mark the end of a six-year barren pursuit for a place at the Nations Cup finals by the country’s senior national football team.
The Warriors were in prime position to qualify for their third Nations Cup finals after arriving for the final battle in Angola carrying a healthy 3-1 first leg lead and their ranks having been boosted by the addition of some experienced players. A united nation, which had pooled more than US$500 000 towards their cause in just two weeks, in which the players were promised a whooping US$10 000 each to win the game and residential stands in the northern suburbs of Harare, had played its part to try and rally the team.
But Zimbabwe’s advantage was erased, within the first 10 minutes of the second leg at the 11 November Stadium in Luanda yesterday, and the Warriors never recovered from their shocking collapse, with the home side comfortably hanging on for a 2-0 win that was enough to secure a ticket to South Africa.
Although the tie ended 3-3 on aggregate, the Angolans qualified by virtue of the away goals rule with the golden goal scored by their winger, Djalma, in Harare last month, now counting double to give them a 4-3 aggregate victory.
It was a cruel ending to the Warriors’ latest quest for a place at the Nations Cup finals but, having edged Burundi on the away goals rule in the last round, coach Rahman Gumbo and his men will find it difficult to find sympathy in the event they curse this format of deciding matches.
What isn’t in dispute is that this was, by far and large, the easiest possible qualifying campaign that the Warriors have played in, for the past three decades, to book a place at the Nations Cup finals. For once, they needed to just play two teams, on a home and away basis, and, in the event they succeeded, get a place to South Africa where an army of their fans was waiting for them to paint the tournament in our gold and green national colours.
But, somehow, the Warriors failed to clear just two hurdles. Having laboured against Burundi, losing 1-2 in Bujumbura, and then squeezing a nervy 1-0 win in Harare, to go through 3-2 on the away goals rule, the Warriors appeared to have found their rhythm with an excellent first half performance against Angola at Rufaro.
But Djalma gave Angola a lifeline with a golden away goal, as the Warriors fizzled out of the picture in the second half at home, struggling to mark the Turkey-based winger and gangly striker, Manucho, after the pair had been thrown in after the interval.
Angola ended the contest in Harare strongly, and got off to a flying start at home, as they got the two early goals they needed to squeeze themselves firmly back into the picture.
Millions of Zimbabwean football fans packed the sports clubs and bars around the country, with many watching the live television broadcast of the match from the comfort of their homes, and central Harare looked distinctly deserted as the game drew closer.
But all hopes that the Warriors would hold on to their advantage evaporated inside the first 10 minutes and, from there on, it was an uphill task and Gumbo came short where Sunday Chidzambwa and Charles Mhlauri had succeeded in taking the national team to the Nations Cup finals.
On a day when the rains that pounded the capital, about an hour before kick-off, should have cheered the spirits of the nation, there were tears at the end of the contest in Luanda as reality dawned that the Warriors had fluffed arguably their best chance to return to the Nations Cup finals.
In an interview, Minister Coltart laid the blame on ZIFA: “We will not get to the full potential until we clean up our football. We are still suffering from corruption and the rot,†said Minister Coltart. “Even players like (Knowledge) Musona have not had his full heart on the Warriors in the past weeks. I am very disappointed by the result but am encouraged by the aggregate of 3-3.â€
Tsholotsho North legislator and Zanu-PF Politburo member Professor Jonathan Moyo said football lacked national mobilisation and motivational support from the parent Ministry and other stakeholders. He said Zimbabwe had failed to do what it was suppose to have done when it qualified to the finals in 2004 and 2006. Prof. Moyo said the country had good players, coaches, supporters, corporate world and enthusiastic media.
“It is that mobilisation and motivation that created a formidable belief that ‘Yes we can do it’. The problem lies in our failure to repeat what we did in 2004 and 2006. In fact the thrust must not have been how to qualify but how to win the Cup,†said Prof Moyo.
“We acted as if we have never qualified before. We are not learning from our success. We are not implementing the things we did in 2004 and 2006. There has been not even a single jingle to motivate players, coaches, corporate sector and the enthusiastic media.â€
Prof Moyo blasted Zifa for christening fundraising committee as Mzansi 90 instead of using an indigenous term that would invoke the country’s ancestral spirits.
“The Ministry of Education should have provided the leadership, but when it failed someone must have taken over the responsibility when the Minister is sleep working on duty and do the job,†he said. “We must brand ourselves indigenously; by calling the Committee Mzansi 90 we were invoking other people’s spirits as if we did not have ours.â€
Prof Moyo said it was equally ridiculous for the national team to continue relying heavily on one sponsor, Mbada Diamonds instead of securing others to complement the existing one.
Information Communication Technology Minister Nelson Chamisa said there was need for a radical transformation of government approach to football in terms of policy and budgetary allocation.
“We have neglected a lot of advantages and opportunities to the detriment of the national pride and patriotic duty,†he said.
“There has to be an active role from the government from a policy and budgetary point of view to redeem and reclaim our national glory which has been near but very far,†he said.
Soccer fan Johannes Chikambure said coach Rahman Gumbo should resign. Gilmore Goredema, a Warriors’ fan who was among those who travelled to Angola to support the team, captured the disappointment with a Facebook post that painted a graphic picture of shattered hearts. “The travelling supporters here are in tears, same as those back home,†he wrote on his Facebook wall. “Are we cursed or what? Or it’s a case of bad players and coaches complemented by bad administrators? “Back to square one, poor Warriors!â€
As usually is the case when the national team loses, it triggered a frenzy of post-mortems on the social media sites last night with many of the fans sharply criticising Gumbo, especially for his decision to leave out midfielder Ovidy Karuru, the star of the failed campaign for the 2012 Nations Cup finals. Others felt Gumbo had always struggled to perform, when the odds are against him, and questioned how a coach, who was deemed not good enough for FC Platinum, could still be trusted to take the team to the Nations Cup finals.
Certainly not a favourite with the majority of the team’s fans and media critics, Gumbo appeared to have charmed the nation when he plotted that impressive 3-1 win over Angola at Rufaro but, given the way the Warriors struggled in the second half, others chose to be cautious before celebrating a ticket to South Africa.
There were fears that the curse which saw him fail to defend a 3-0 first leg lead, while coaching Highlanders in the Champions League in 2000, to lose by the same scoreline against Sable de Batie of Cameroon in 2000 and then be eliminated on penalty shootout, would strike again in Luanda.
For some of his critics, that monumental Bosso collapse at the turn of the millennium justified their concerns that the Warriors would struggle to defend their lead in Luanda.
Gumbo is in his second spell with the Warriors after his previous stint ended following a home 0-3 loss against Nigeria eight years ago and, in two away Nations Cup matches with the senior national team since his comeback, they lost both games.
In three away matches, including the 2014 World Cup qualifier against Mozambique in Maputo, the Warriors drew one and lost two.
The Warriors’ next assignment will come in March next year when they travel to Cairo for a date against Egypt, who already lead them by five points after two group games, in a 2014 World Cup date.