We write with a heavy heart after a very pathetic performance by our beloved Warriors at home against little known Cape Verde Islands. What was supposed to be our first win of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualified turned into a drab affair that makes a mockery of our team’s nickname.
What a docile show our boys put up today? No real Warrior can undertake such a hunt and expect to bring home even a squirrel, let alone a whole blue shark. There was just no bite, no fight nor might in the Warriors game. We saw a big Benjani opting to let little Knowledge go into all the aerial tussles with the giants from across the ocean, when it was obvious the little boy was short on height and stamina. We saw no Fire in Tafadzwa Rusike, who would let the ball skid to the touch line for as long as it wasn't kicked directly at him. There was no sting in the only free kick Method Mwanjali got a few metres from goal. Speed seemed to have deserted the reliable Edward "Duduza" Sadomba at key moments today, and the usually precise Musona seemed to lose his balance and bearings, missing the spoor that led to the Cape Verde goal line. Myasha Mushekwi refused to be the poisonous spear coaches Madinda Ndlovu and Norman could throw at the Sharks late on, as he landed on the beach, failing to move again and remaining far from the lounging sharks in the ocean.
It’s very tempting at this point in time to look back at what has been christened the “week of drama” and blame the tame performance at ZIFA’s bungling and the associated upheaval that came with the appointment and deportation of the new substantive coach Tom Saintfiet, but that will just be hiding behind our fingers. No matter who would have been coaching, our players lacked the hunger to win. As one analyst put it, there just wasn’t a single one of them who was saying to himself, “Let me win this one for my country”. The midfielders lacked composure, the strikers unsettled and the defenders, with the Blue Sharks opting to sit back and not attack, were mere spectators. One could say the events of the week took the morale out of the team, but the Warriors were just too docile.
The team that turned up for duty today was a far cry from the hunting Warriors that invaded a jungle called Monrovia last month. We had more shorts at goal in the first half only in Monrovia than the entire match today. The Liberia keeper made five times more saves to deny the likes of Knowledge Musona and even substitute midfielder Lionel Mtizwa, than the Cape Verde goalie did today. We can hardly remember a spectacular save being made by the Islanders’ goalkeeper today. We might have seen it differently, but Zimbabwe only had three build ups into the box. Twice in the first half when Captain Benjani eventually fell when about to pull the trigger, and when Justice Majabvi failed to connect after being set up by Mwaruwari’s header. Although the second half was more lively, only substitute Nyasha Mushekwi’s effort blazed over the bar qualifies to be counted a team build up that could have led to something. We only saw one header on target, Knowledge Musona's at the end of a beautiful cross by Justice Majabvi. All other chances were really just that, chances that came by luck, with no purposeful creativity behind them. All this smacks of a team that really had plan as to how to win this game.
For once it looked like the plan was to attack through the wings, and to their credit, wingbacks Onismo Bhasera and Noel Kaseke did their bit in whipping in crosses. But there is something wrong with a strategy where you target your shortest player in the attack with all high balls. All the crosses seemed to target Musona, and given the height of the opposition, that strategy was definitely not going to pay any dividends. Initially we thought it was Captain Benjy who was lacking the energy to go for the high balls, but the trend continued even when Mushekwi came in. Fine, Knowledge is the boy on form, and was most likely to score than anyone else in that attack, but to target him with high balls was certainly a lost cause. Each team which decides to attack through the wings will have one weapon, a big striker in the centre to aim at, and with Benjani and later Mushekwi in the team, it looked like a good strategy. We can bet our bottom dollar that if Majabvi’s cross in the second half had been aimed at Shekwi or Benjy, it would have been buried. Musona failed to score not because of anything but his height, simple.
Our passing was atrocious to say the least. Only one pass in the first half by Noel Kaseke could qualify as defence splitting. All the others, lucky bounces. It was clear that each time either Clement Matawu, Rusike, Esrom Nyandoro or Majabvi tried to weight in a pass, it will go to an opponent, or be too heavy for their team mates. The one time that Musona seemed to pick Rusike in acres of space on the left in the first half, the later decided to be a spectator and let the ball out for a goal kick. That was lame!
Our defenders had an off day. Yes, the visitors were not attacking that much, but it is on a day like this that the defender goes on sporadic forays to help in attack, especially when chances continue to be wasted like that. Only Method tried this late on in the game, but even for him, chesting the ball seemed too much a task, and had to use his hand, in full view of the officials who had no option but to blow. That was just not Warrior like.
The whole first half of the game today was a mere waste of time. There was just no hunger to win the game. It was no surprise that we got our first corner at the stroke of halftime, and we had not had a single short at goal. No one in the team seemed to want to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and dictate things. Majabvi was the central midfielder expected to spray passes, but he was clearly playing out of position. He has the capacity to do that, but only when playing from deep “in the hole”. It was clear that the coaches had a difficult time deciding between Majabvi and Esrom Nyandoro. After Majabvi’s stellar performance in Liberia, and the reliability that comes with a veteran like Nyandoro, they probably needed to either flip a coin, or throw them both in and hope for the best. They chose the later, and it was a deadly mistake. Someone needed to bite the bullet and bench one of them. Ashley Rambanepasi and Tinashe Nengomasha are equally gritty players who can play the holding role, but their ability to also play further up and support the strikers is way better than both Esrom and Majabvi. Rambanepasi has been doing that to massive effect for Dynamos all season this year. An option would have been to play Matawu behind the strikers, and even throw Sadomba on that right wing from the word go. We just needed to start by running at those Sharks like we later did in the second half, but we were rather too cautious.
Credit to the bench, the approach was a bit different in the second half. We forced 2 to 3 corners in a space of a few minutes, and panic pangs started to attack the Islnders’ defence, but then again, we couldn’t kill them. For a moment we thought someone on the bench had balls when they pulled out Matawu for Mushekwi and Benjani for Sadomba, but we wondered if we had thrown in the towel when Vusa Nyoni then came in for Musona. Fine, the young man missed a number of chances, but with 5 minutes to go and you are looking for a last gasp winner who would you rather have on the pitch, Musona or Nyoni? That was the epitome of the lack of will to win the entire team showed. It was time to go for broke. Cape Verde had long shown that unless we really beg them, they were not interested in trying things at Washington Arubi’s goal, except at that one moment when their striker blasted over the bar. Yes Nyoni was welcome, but for someone else, like Majabvi or even Nyandoro. You want those who are carrying the confidence from their club games, those that have hit the back of the net a few games back, those with proverbial stroke of luck, to be close to where the ball drops at such instances. That, our coaches missed.
So, its back to the drawing board for the Warriors. Painful it is. It’s more painful because we did not loose 2 points to a better side. We can’t even tell how good the Islanders are because they simply did not play. They came to wait for us to throw things at them, and that hardly happened. We lost 2 points not because we had a bad side, but just that amongst our players, no one really stood up to be counted. At this rate, we might have to suspend the use of the beloved nickname until the real spear wielding and blood thirsty Warriors stand up!
Your comments please?
well wondered what the match was all about really. for a moment thought it was a friendly match cause the players did not seem focused on winning. I think it is also time we stopped selecting people just because they are in one of the top leagues in the world. Benjani just did not do it for me positioning off and times he would just fall. Was he injured coming into the game. eople like Sadomba are on form right now and need to come into matvch a little earlier than what we did. As Norman did in Liberia let us start looking forward with our youngsters. well Sadomba at 27 is not a youngster adn it is time we start giving the respect he needs. Nyasha Mushekwi needs more time in the team too. Five months guys let us use the five months to sor out the team and get to know our opponents.
ReplyDeleteSo are you then saying Benjani shouldnt have started the game? I tend to follow your line of thinking, becuase surely given Benjani, Musona, Mushekwi and Sadomba on current form, Benjani should be at the bottom of the pecking order. But then, there is the arguement about experience, inspiration, etc, and maybe the coaches were under pressure to show that there is indeed no feud between Benjani and Norman. What do you think?
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