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Banish fear factor — Gorowa

Sport
IAN Gorowa has told his Warriors to banish the fear factor as they host Zambia again at Rufaro Stadium on Sunday in their bid to secure a ticket to the African Nations Championship

IAN Gorowa has told his Warriors to banish the fear factor as they host Zambia again at Rufaro Stadium on Sunday in their bid to secure a ticket to the African Nations Championship (Chan) in South Africa in January next year. Zimbabwe, seeking a third successive appearance at the Chan tournament since its inauguration, were held to a 1-1 draw at home by lowly Mauritius at Rufaro on Sunday as they wasted plenty of opportunities which came their way.

REPORT BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA

Despite the draw, they still advanced to the final qualifying round, courtesy of a 4-1 aggregate win, but Gorowa is unhappy with the Warriors ’performance which he said was perhaps due to the pressure that comes with playing at home.

He said from his observation, the Warriors appear to play better away than at home.

“I had someone doing stats for me during the match against Mauritius. We had 25 entries into their box and were supposed to score at least five goals, but we managed to score just one goal. They tend to play better when playing away from home and perhaps this has something to do with the pressure from the home crowd.

“Against Zambia, it will be more difficult because chances will be few. It will be tough against Zambia, but we will have time to watch a video of the match against Mauritius with the players so that they see where they were getting it wrong and how to correct those mistakes.

“It is important that we try to wrap up the match against Zambia at home so that when we play them away we won’t be under any pressure,” the Warriors coach said.

The Warriors trained at Prince Edward once in the morning yesterday, but four key players — defender Eric Chipeta, midfielders Devon Chafa and Masimba Mambare and striker Tendai Ndoro — did not take part owing to injuries and sickness.

Nelson Maziwisa also did not take part in the morning training session as he attended to some family problem and joined his teammates in camp in the afternoon.

Despite the injuries, the Warriors appeared in high spirits as they went through their paces under the watchful eye of Gorowa and his assistants Kalisto Pasuwa, Jairos Tapera, Mkhuphali Masuku and goalkeepers coach Richard Tswatswa.

The two teams are meeting for the third time this year with their first clash coming in April in an international friendly match in which the Warriors were defeated 2-0.

Zimbabwe also lost by an identical 2-0 scoreline in the final of the Cosafa Castle Cup last month.