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Young Warriors leave for do-or-die tie

Sport
YOUNG Warriors coach Kalisto Pasuwa has challenged his charges to play for their future, not for the result, when they take on the South Africa Under-23 side in the second leg of a crucial Olympic football qualifier at the Harry Gwala Stadium in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, tonight.

YOUNG Warriors coach Kalisto Pasuwa has challenged his charges to play for their future, not for the result, when they take on the South Africa Under-23 side in the second leg of a crucial Olympic football qualifier at the Harry Gwala Stadium in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, tonight.

BY MUNYARADZI MADZOKERE

South Africa, coached by Owen da Gama, are favourites after scoring an invaluable away goal in the one-all first leg draw at Rufaro Stadium two weeks ago. After enduring an ill-fated week in which a strike haunted the Young Warriors camp, with coach Pasuwa quitting the team for two days, the team finally left the country for South Africa by air yesterday.

Speaking to NewsDay Sport at Harare International Airport, Pasuwa said Zimbabwe need a result to ensure qualification to the African Championships which is the next round in the Olympic qualification process.

“Now that we are going, we are definitely not going there to add numbers, we need a result. Apart from the challenges we have encountered this week, I told the players that they have everything to play for such as their future and such games can decide the destiny and career of most of these youngsters,” the former Dynamos gaffer said.

“Playing away from home requires a certain character. The sense of playing at home affected our attitude where we thought it was going to be easy and they ended up dominating us.”

Pasuwa, who briefly quit the Warriors before eventually making the trip to Malawi for an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in June, abandoned the Young Warriors again this week for two days over unpaid wages understood to be close to $10 000.

“I have told the boys that, I, as coach, have had my own problems, but because we started this qualifying journey together it will be very unfair for me to abandon them at this crucial stage so we trained yesterday (Thursday) and I think we are ready for the battle,” Pasuwa added.

To progress, the Young Warriors need to get an outright win or a 2-all draw or better following their 1-1 draw in the first leg.

Pasuwa may have to do the Amaglug glug job without newly-acquired Ajax Cape Town frontman Thomas Chideu, who was not part of the team that was at the airport yesterday.

The former Highlanders striker was still to get his passport back after a late application for his work permit and plans were in place for him to follow in case he got his paper in time.

Team captain Wisdom Mutasa was full of confidence that the team would upset their southern neighbours.

“I think we will beat them 2-0. Morale is high in the camp and everyone is looking forward to bringing back a good result. We know each other very well, we have played a number of games together and that will help us perform and upset the South Africans in their backyard.

“We are ready to fight because everyone in the team wants to go to the Olympics regardless of the challenges we have,” said the FC Platinum midfielder.

The winner between the two will book a ticket for the finals to be held in Dakar, Senegal, in December, with the top three teams from that tournament automatically qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.