Relief for Logarušić

By The NewsDay | Mar. 27, 2021 | 3 Min read

WARRIORS coach Zdravko Logarušić is a relieved man after the senior national team beat the Zebras of Botswana 1-0 on their home turf on Monday to qualify for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations Cup (Afcon) finals to be hosted by Cameroon.

BY HENRY MHARA/FORTUNE MBELE

Before Thursday’s win, the Croat had presided over five winless games, with a number of Warriors fans beginning to lose faith in him following the disastrous African Nations Championships (Chan) in Cameroon last December.

After the win on Monday in Botswana, Logarušić admitted he was under pressure.

Tanzanian giants Simba SC striker Perfect Chikwende scored the solitary goal against Botswana as Zambia settled for a 3-3 draw with Algeria, gifting the Warriors an opportunity to book a place in the finals.

“I was under pressure for sure because I was five games in charge without a win. People were beginning to question me, but I told them I will win when I need to win and that was the most important thing. That is what I did,” he said.

The Croat assumed the position of Warriors head coach at the beginning of last year, but the Afcon and World Cup qualifiers were suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In his first game in charge with a disjointed squad as he prepared for back-to-back Afcon qualifier ties with Algeria, he played a goalless draw with Malawi and then lost 3-1 to the Desert Foxes away and played a 2-2 draw at home, courtesy of a late equaliser by Prince Dube.

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He went to lose all his games at the Chan tournament in December.

The Croat is excited at being the first foreign gaffer to take the Warriors to the finals, their third in a row, albeit having not gone past the first hurdle.

“I feel overwhelmed. Our hard work paid off. You know our situation on the preparations, for example, when we had to pick players at the airport in South Africa (Onismor Bhasera), and some of the players didn’t train because they arrived late in camp. When I realised our situation, I decided to go with experienced players whom I knew would handle this kind of situation. It didn’t matter whether they are playing regular football at their clubs or not,” Logarušić said.

“This is a fantastic feeling and I have to thank the boys for a very good job. We had at least six regular players who were missing but I told the new players that this is a chance to impress and they really played well. In the end they showed that they are Warriors. This is one of the nicest moments of my coaching career. I have coached for 23 years and look where these boys have put me.”

On Chikwende’s goal, he said: “The last time I took time to play Prince Dube and I was criticised. I told people that I will play him at the right moment when he is ready and that he will score, and in the first match, he scored.

“When I decided to put in Perfect Chikwende, I said to him ‘go and make my night perfectly perfect’, and he did. Sometimes you have to listen to your instincts. He was surprised in the morning when I told him that he would start, but I told him to relax and to just go out there and show ‘who you are and what you can do’.

“I had to put the right players who have character and are ready to play with their heart for the country like (Knowledge) Musona. He is an example of a leader of a team because he loves his country too much. I want all my players to be like that.”