NEW Warriors skipper, Knowledge Musona refused to take glory for his team’s fantastic 3-0 win over Liberia in a 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) Group G opening match at the National Sports Stadium yesterday, even though the “Smiling Assassin” was the star of the show.
BY HENRY MHARA
The striker, who was leading his team for the first time since being handed the armband earlier this week, celebrated his new role by scoring a hat-trick that helped Zimbabwe move to the top of the group on goal difference.
The goals took his goal tally for the Warriors to 19.
The group also has the Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo-Brazzaville, who played their opening qualifier on Saturday, with the former winning the match 3-1.
While Musona stole the show, and cemented his growing status as the best player of the current Warriors generation, he was keen to acknowledge his teammates’ contribution in the match.
“We wanted three points and everyone worked hard today. I’m very happy (for scoring the three goals), and not only for myself, but for the whole team because it was their contribution that made it possible,” he said.
“I didn’t do it all on my own. We worked as a team and took the chances that we got, so everyone should get credit. Scoring today means a lot because it builds confidence for myself and also for the team.
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“We must also give credit to the supporters. They were supporting us through the 90 minutes and it was a great result and a good start for the campaign.”
Warriors interim coach, Norman Mapeza also hailed his players for a fantastic display.
“It was a good game of football. We took our chances and I think we defended well. We had a compact midfield and were clinical upfront,” he said.
“I should say congratulations to the boys, they worked hard, and I should also thank the fans who came in their numbers and gave us maximum support. That is what we need as a team going forward. Everybody today was fantastic. From goalkeeper George (Chigova) to the two guys (Ovidy Karuru and Devon Chafa) that came on.”
Mapeza said the team has a good chance of qualifying for the Afcon finals, to be hosted by Cameroon.
He wants the team to be kept together and for it to have adequate preparations for the remaining matches.
“We now have to be consistent going forward and try to keep the team as it is. I’m only an interim coach and might not be here for the next match so my advice to the next coach is to keep the team like it is and maybe add one or two guys, who were not available today. This is a good team, a mixture of experience and young players,” Mapeza said.
“We have to make use of the Fifa calendar, its very important. Let’s have as many friendlies as we can so that these guys can get better so we should start to prepare for next year. So far so good, we should thank Zifa for organising this camp and also [Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries leader] Walter Magaya for providing us with accommodation.”
Khama Billiat and Costa Nhamoinesu are some of the Warriors stars that missed yesterday’s match through injuries. Liberia coach, James Debbar missed a host of regulars for the match, and he blamed their unavailability for the defeat.
“We had five or six regular players, who were out and we had only two professional players, the rest play in Liberia. I’m very optimistic of our chances of qualifying because I’m sure we will beat Zimbabwe in Liberia, maybe 4-0,” he said.
“We conceded the first goal because of bad officiating, then the other two goals were technical errors by the two fullbacks because they are inexperienced. It’s a whole new team and they will get more lot better by getting more game time.”
Zimbabwe’s next match is away to Congo-Brazzaville at the Stade Alphonse Massamba-Debat on March 27 next year.
They will then face DRC away on September 3 and will host the same opponent a week later.
They travel to Liberia on October 16 before concluding their campaign with a home game against Congo-Brazzaville on November 13.
