THE Warriors embarked on their third appearance in the African Nations Championships (Chan) yesterday better prepared than ever before.
NewsDay Editorial
They have played an international friendly match against Mozambique and won 2-1.
They play Gabon tomorrow before proceeding to their base in Cape Town, South Africa, where we are told another match against local side Ajax Cape Town is being planned.
The government has already chipped in with $88 000 for transport and allowances for the trip and more funds will be released in due course.
Coach Ian Gorowa has brought in kit supplier Umbro to dress the Warriors, thereby bringing some professionalism into the entire set up. Save for that food blip, everything has been smooth sailing.
Now, we expect the Warriors to put up good performances against, critically, Morocco, in the first match on January 12 as this will give an indicator of where we are headed in the competition.
The second match against Uganda should all, but seal our place in the quarter-finals, which is just what we need to do better than we did in the last two editions in Ivory Coast and Sudan.
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In 2009, we had three draws and two years later we managed a win and two losses. So, now, two wins will do us good.
We believe the coach has selected the best possible players from the local league who shone last season and in the qualifiers. The same spirit that prevailed in the qualifiers again Mauritius and Zambia is what we need in South Africa.
We expect the three leaders on the pitch, Patson Jaure, Masimba Mambare and Felix Chindungwe, to lead from the front. We have no doubt about the capabilities of our two Simba Sitholes, Charles Sibanda, Peter Moyo, George Chigova, Ali Sadiki and the rest of the troops.
All we need is for the government to stay true to their word and release the rest of the money.
That way, we can demand the results we want from the boys without fear. We are also calling on the corporate world and individuals to assist in this worthy cause.
These are the boys that will drive our dream to the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco and the 2018 World Cup.
As a nation, we are solidly behind you and we say Go Warriors Go! And lastly, amid pomp and fanfare, Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) duly announced that a cricket ground would be built in Victoria Falls. That was three years ago.
This is a venue that would draw a lot of teams to this wonder of the world, boost Zimbabwe’s tourism arrivals and ensure the growth of Victoria Falls as a municipality.
But alas, we have not heard from ZC since then and we wonder what could have happened to the land that had been earmarked for that purpose now that we are in an era of thieving land barons.
We suspected at the time that it was all hot air.
Instead, perhaps these two would do: Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur coming to Harare!
