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THE JOY OF SIX

Sport
AN entirely dominant display by the Warriors saw them ruthlessly crushing minnows Seychelles in a Cosafa Castle Cup match at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace in Rustenburg last night to qualify to the quarter finals of the competition.

ZIMBABWE . . . . . . . . . (2) 6 SEYCHELLES . . . . . . . . . . 0

AN entirely dominant display by the Warriors saw them ruthlessly crushing minnows Seychelles in a Cosafa Castle Cup match at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace in Rustenburg last night to qualify to the quarter finals of the competition.

BY HENRY MHARA IN RUSTENBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

Ovidy Karuru (with ball) celebrates his second goal with teammates during the 2017 Cosafa Castle Cup match against Seychelles at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg, South Africa, yesterday
Ovidy Karuru (with ball) celebrates his second goal with teammates during the 2017 Cosafa Castle Cup match against Seychelles at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg, South Africa, yesterday

Skipper, Ovidy Karuru was once again the star of the show, scoring a memorable hat-trick to get his second man-of-the-match award in this competition.

His co-captain, Ocean Mushure rose from the bench to net a brace, his first, a trademark free kick from a seemingly impossible angle and Prince Dube also made it onto the scoresheet in his first match of the tournament.

The huge victory means Zimbabwe qualify to the quarter-finals tomorrow due to a superior goal difference of 10, five better than Madagascar, with both teams finishing on seven points in the group.

Madagascar won their last group match 4-1, beating Mozambique, who finished with three points, while Seychelles went home empty-handed after losing all their three matches.

Warriors assistant coach, Lloyd Mutasa said he was happy with the team’s performance and was now looking ahead to tomorrow’s match.

“We created a number of chances and the conversion rate was super. Scoring six goals in a single match is good. Once again, we didn’t concede which was good enough in terms of defending and in terms of attacking,” he said.

On Karuru and Mushure’s exploits in the competition so far, Mutasa said: “Ovidy and Ocean are the co-captains and their contribution shows the leadership qualities that they have, and they epitomise the team’s desire to go forward. We are happy for them as individuals and their contribution to the team so far.”

Warriors coach, Sunday Chidzambwa had spoken beforehand about making wholesale changes to his team line-up for this game.

One was a full Warriors debut for Chicken Inn midfielder, Innocent Mucheneka.

Goalkeeper, Takabva Mawaya and young Prince Dube appeared for first time in this tournament.

Eric Chipeta was moved to his usual right back position and utility player Liberty Chakoroma dropped back to the central defence position.

Karuru thought he had given his side the lead on 16th minute when he swept home from a Mitchell Katsvairo cross, but the effort was flagged for offside.

The latter also had the ball in the back of the net two minutes later, but again, his celebrations were quickly halted by the flag.

But the skipper eventually got his team up and running with his third goal of the tournament, when he chested down a Chipeta cross into his path at the back post and blasted the ball into the net via the underside of the cross bar.

Seychelles goalkeeper, Romeo Barra was to pick the ball out of his net two minutes later, when Karuru got to the end of a Katsvairo cross and hit the roof of the net from a similar position.

Dube, again breaking from deep, got behind the defence from yet another probing through ball by Gerald Takwara and the 20-year-old rounded off the goalkeeper like a veteran, before slotting the ball into the net.

It was Dube’s first goal for the tournament and Takwara’s fourth assist in this campaign.

The Highlanders striker could have easily made it four when he was put through by Raphael Manuvire, but blasted straight at the goalkeeper on 58 minutes.

Eight minutes later, the captain was celebrating his third goal, and fourth for the team, when he headed home from a cross on the left.

And with four minutes still to play, the stadium witnessed yet another Mushure special.

After Zimbabwe won a free-kick, Mushure somehow managed to curl the ball with a trademark free-kick.

There was still time for another goal, when Mushure got to an end of a cross at the back post and fired it past the sprawling Barra in injury time for his third of the tournament.

Teams

Zimbabwe: T Mawaya, L Chakoroma, O Moyo, J Tigere, E Chipeta, G Takwara, I Mucheneka (O Mushure, 56’), R Manuvire, O Karuru, M Katsvairo (T Chawapiwa, 72’), P Dube (K Mutizwa, 86’)

Seychelles: R Barra, B Esther, E Mellie, A Onezia, C Bibi, C Hopprich, D Maria, G Trevor (R Padayachy, 58’), C Esther, R Melanie (M Williams, 60’), K Hall (C Simeon, 74’)