Tricky Draw For Warriors

By Perkins-Tino Bare

It was 3 years ago, more precisely it was on the 3rd of June in 2012 at the National Sports stadium when an Ibrahim Traore beauty of a free-kick left Tapuwa Kapini standing in awe. This time round it will be different as we have a young squad which just beat a rebuilding Cameroon young side and it ought to be a different ball game in this round of qualifiers as we have scores to settle.

Zimbabwe got a tricky draw for the upcoming AFCON qualifiers as they were drawn in Group L where they will face Guinea, Swaziland and Malawi. The draw was held in Cairo, Egypt, with the qualifiers starting on the weekend of June 12-14 and CAF also selected GABON as the hosts for the 2017 tournament. Malawian coach Chimodzi was quick tom point out that the group was `not bad` and is rather bullish.

The winner of each group qualifies for the finals along with the two best runners-up. It is a tough format, which makes a favourable draw crucial to any country’s chances. Zimbabwe were in Pot 3 although the seedings were not based on the Fifa/Caf rankings, but rather on the performance of countries at the last Afcon finals and the qualifiers.

The games against Swaziland and Malawi are expected to be easy encounters for the Warriors as we  can expect them to win both legs quite comfortably. The matches against Guinea who are currently ranked 7th in Africa are expected to be tough for the lads but if we can manage to salvage a draw a home in Conakry and even at home we would be on course for qualification. To qualify Zimbabwe needs to be top of their group and this is going to require a lot of work as our adminstrators have not done enough to condition the players for any such event. The guys at 53 Livingstone have been more concerned with `housekeeping issues` as it was more of a catfight to avoid going down with Cuthbert Dube. Also like always we have not played enough friendlies to ensure the fitness of the players in terms of national encounters and gaining that much needed exposure to playing in different conditions.

Speaking on the draw, former Warriors assistant coach Joey Antipas said the draw could not have been better.“It’s a welcome draw, and we have a very good chance of qualifying here,” said Antipas, who is currently the coach of Premiership side Chicken Inn. “Our biggest obstacle in the group is Guinea, but I believe with the right selection of players, we will be in. We have very good players abroad who should be able to compete with Africa’s best. We need to prepare adequately for this because this is a very good chance for us. We couldn’t have asked for a better draw than this one,” added Antipas in an interview .

Also speaking on the draw ZIMBABWE Under-23 coach Kalisto Pasuwa reiterated that “I don’t think it is an easy group. These teams which used to be viewed as lightweights have improved remarkably. Look at Botswana for example, if we play against them we will struggle and that shows we can no longer afford to look down on any team. It’s wrong to just look at names. What is critical is how we prepare. “Maybe the fact that we have two teams from the southern region could be an advantage in that we are familiar with their play but it does not in any way mean it will be easy. We need to prepare well,” said Pasuwa in an interview.



Zimbabwe failed to qualify for the last Afcon finals that were held in Equatorial Guinea last February after an embarrassing first round exit at the hands of Tanzania left many fans disheartened.
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