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It's a do or die for the Zimbabwe Warriors

18 Aug 2021 at 14:41hrs | Views
Watching the Africa Cup of Nations draw in Cameroon on Tuesday was so fantastic.

There were exciting moments reliving the once finest African football giants like Ghananian Asamoha Gyan the Bafana Bafana Lucas Radebe, Senegalese El Hadji Diof, Cameroonian Roger Milla, Rigobert Song and Ivory Coast  Didier Drogba gracing the event.

I felt our own Peter Ndlovu or Benjamin Mwaruwari were also supposed to  represent our beautiful Zimbabwean football and giving sweet memories of the ceremonial home of football Rufaro Stadium and the magnificent giant stadium National Sports Stadium.

It is the fairest draw,  though very tricky. The Lions of Teranga are the obvious favourites from the group. Yes football is played on the pitch. With good preparations and  investment, it is possible for the Warriors to progress to the next round. In the last Afcon tournament Zimbabwe Warriors failed to proceed to the next round.

As long as we still have that plumber from Croatia masquaranding as our Warriors coach surely we are not going anywhere.

With shambolic preparations at ZIFA and poor administration we really need a miracle to pull through this group.

We have always struggled against Senegal and Guinea. It is not going to be a stroll in the park as the Warriors face another tough assignment in the Afcon finals. Hard running Senegalese striker Sadio Mane is likely to give us some a good run of our money.

There is a problem of complacency within our national team and they usually go to slèep when we mostly need their alertness.

Our defenders must be at their best to mark him out of the game. We need to up our game if we are to emerge the winners in this group. It seems Malawi is going to be an easy pass but we must not underrate the underdogs as they are likely to pull a shocker in the tournament.

I see Zimbabwe Warriors winning against Malawi and drawing against Guinea and succumbing to Senegal. Zimbabwe Warriors must remain focused work very hard on the ground and practising sharp shooting and set pieces.

We should not brush aside sides like Guinea and Malawi. They can turn the tables against us.

Of course we have a great squad including European based players like Marvelous Nakamba, Tino Kadewere and Marshall Munetsi who are plying their trade in top leagues but are these players putting 100% effort whenever they are called for duty?

We have the capability to shake things at the tournament but only if we put our house in order from preparation, team selection and mental stability.

Its a do or die encounter. This draw gives us a chance to finally go beyond the second round.

konileonard606@gmail.com
@Leokoni
+27616868508

Source - Leonard Koni
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