Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Mtulisi Mafa
21 June 2008
Harare — NOW can the real Warriors stand up and be counted -- for the sake of their nation, for the sake of a coach who believes in them, for the sake of the fans who trust them and, crucially, for the sake of their 2010 World Cup/Nations Cup campaign?
Now can the true captain stand up and be counted -- for the sake of his nation, for the sake of a coach who believes in him, for the sake of the fans who idolise him and, crucially, for the sake of his team's 2010 World Cup/Nations Cup campaign?
Now can we all stand up and be counted tomorrow -- for the sake of our lovely country, for the sake of a coach who believes in our team and, crucially, for the sake of a dream that we all want to come true?
Tomorrow is D-Day for our 2010 World Cup/Nations Cup campaign.
Tomorrow at Rufaro we will either blow some life into our campaign or we will see this beautiful dream turn into a nightmare.
Tomorrow at the ceremonial home of our football, we will either make it or break it.
All that our dear Warriors need is to win -- to beat the stubborn Harambee Stars of Kenya by whatever margin and we could be back on top of Group Two and in the driving seat once again.
All that our dear Warriors need is to end a 23-year wait and beat Kenya in a match at this level of football at Rufaro tomorrow.
Let's all make it happen -- the players, the fans, everyone who believes in our game.
The Warriors had started off well with a crucial 0-0 draw away to group favourites Guinea before an important 2-0 win over Namibia at Rufaro two weeks ago.
But they came crashing down to earth when they bit the dust at the Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi -- losing 2-0 to the Harambee Stars.
While they have been calls for a change, especially of a strike force that has struggled for consistency in the supply of goals and a midfield that has lacked creativity, Warriors coach Valinhos has remained stubborn.
But the Brazilian coach could be forced to bring in midfielder Honour Gombami who has been impressive with his eye for goal during the week's training sessions.
Warriors manager Ernest "Mapepa" Sibanda revealed last night that the players were aware of the importance of the game and said they were ready to battle for a win.
"It's a must-win game for us because once we lose or draw we will just be making life difficult for ourselves and we will be putting ourselves under a lot of pressure.
"The players know the importance of this game, everybody has worked very hard, Zifa have done their best to make sure everything is fine and our patron (Vice President Joseph Msika) has done his best for the team.
"So the ball is in our court," he said.
The Warriors manager also appealed to the fans to give all their support to the team and Valinhos.
"Let's give our coach all the support that he needs and whichever team he comes up with, we should rally behind them.
"We want everybody to be behind that team. We know that they could be some disagreements over certain players and it's very normal in football.
"But what we need to realise is that all these boys are Zimbabweans and they are trying to do their best for their country.
"They need the support. They have done their best in training and all they want is to win this match for their country," he said.
Skipper Benjani has yet to open his account in these qualifiers.
After a long season in England in which he impressed with his 15 goals for Portsmouth and Manchester City, Benjani has struggled to get into the scoring groove for his country.
This week he flew to his parents' rural home in Malawi to "recharge his batteries" and appears ready to end his barren spell tomorrow.
The Harambee Stars, who arrived in the country yesterday morning, believe that they can do a double over the Warriors.
They are without influential midfielder McDonald Mariga -- scorer of the Harambee Stars' first goal -- who failed to recover from injury.
Mariga plays for Italian side Parma.
Also ineligible for the visitors is dangerous striker Patrick Oboya, who has two yellow cards and is suspended for this tie.
The Harambee Stars will be without their first-choice goalkeeper Arnold Origi who broke his leg in the game against Zimbabwe.
Mathare United defender Kennedy Arong has also been ruled out of tomorrow's game because of injury.
The Kenyans top the group with six points having won both their home games, beating Guinea with a similar 2-0 margin two weeks ago.
But it is their away record that remains a thorn in their flesh and they have already lost to Namibia in this campaign.
The Harambee Stars, according to Kenyafootball.com, have played a total of 38 away games since the inception of the Africa Cup of Nations in 1957.
They have only won four of those, drawn 10 and recorded 24 defeats away from home.
But this has not dampened the Harambee Stars' spirits despite the odds stacked against them.
Kenya Football Federation chairman Mohammed Hatimy, who arrived in the capital as head of delegation, was optimistic moments after touching down at the Harare International Airport.
Hatimy believes the Harambee Stars can do a double over the Warriors.
"We want to repeat what we did in Kenya, we have the confidence and we can beat Zimbabwe here.
"We are not tourists, we have come here on a mission to win and everyone knows that we are not on holiday," he said.
Hatimy said the Harambee Stars have recovered from their opening 2-1 defeat to Namibia and attributed the loss to problems that had threatened to destroy Kenyan football.
"We had a lot of problems with the football federation before the game against Namibia.
"The team had only trained for three days but we played very well and we only conceded the second goal in the 89th minute.
"Everything is in order now and we have the belief that we can win against Zimbabwe."
That again will depend on how their star forward Dennis Oliech performs tomorrow after scoring three times in the last two games.
This is one battle that the Warriors simply have to win.
Copyright © 2008 The Herald. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
Read comments. Write your own.
