Zimbabwe: Amin Happy Despite Hitches

Godknows Matarutse

24 June 2011

The Zimbabwe Under-23 team did not fly to Johannesburg as scheduled yesterday after they could not secure enough seats on the flight to South Africa.

The Young Warriors, who traveled by road to their assignments in Zambia and Botswana, were scheduled to leave yesterday morning.

The official version from the team’s management was that they failed to secure enough seats for the delegation while some claimed Zifa were only advised late on Wednesday night that the cost of the booked seats had risen substantially.

The players, who were unhappy about the sudden change of arrangements, initially questioned the decision by the team’s coaches to send them to a training session instead in the morning.

There were indications, however, that the team would now fly out to South Africa this morning.

Captain Qadr Amini said he remained hopeful the Young Warriors will maintain their fine away record and secure a result against South Africa in their All-Africa Games final qualifier, first leg in Johannesburg tomorrow.

The Young Warriors, unbeaten on the road so far in this campaign, lock horns with Amaglug-glug at the Sinaba Stadium in Daveyton Johannesburg.

Convincing victories over Zambia and Botswana in the opening two rounds of this competition has left the Young Warriors high on confidence that they could secure a ticket to the All – Africa Games finals in Maputo, Mozambique in September.

Team manager Wellington Mpandare said the change in their travel arrangements had not dampened the team’s sprits.

“We are not worried for not travelling today (yesterday), it’s something that happens in football.

“I think we also have to understand the situation at Zifa and since we are travelling by plane it’s not a big deal, it would have affected us if we were to travel by road.

“We are expecting to leave tomorrow (today) morning, and we are still going to hold our training session at the match venue in the afternoon,” said Mpandare.

Mpandare also thanked the Zifa president Cuthbert Dube for lifting the spirits of the team by paying their allowances.

“I applaud the Zifa president for coming to our rescue at the last minute, it really boosted the players’ spirits.

“It shows how much he cares for our football and I wish we have more people like him.

“Morale in the camp is now high. The boys are geared up for the match and we are looking forward to a positive result,” Mpandare said.

The Young Warriors continued their preparations at Gwanzura yesterday afternoon at Gwanzura under the watchful eyes of coach Friday Phiri and his assistant Darlington Dodo.

On a bad day for them, the bus that was scheduled to take them to the Zifa Village was delayed, and the Young Warriors could be seen milling around Gwanzura after the session.

Skipper Amini said the team was geared up for the match and it’s now up to the players to prove to the nation that they can be trusted as the team for the future.

“We need to work hard just like what we have been doing in our previous games.

“Our away record has been good and with the quality of players we have in our team I think a draw will be the worst result.

“We need to play our usual game, and play as a unit without giving them too much room to come to us.

“South Africa are a good side but we are not reading much into their type of play, we want to come up with a positive result and finish them when they come here for the second leg.

“We will definitely qualify for the All-Africa Games in Maputo if we play our hearts out,” said Amini.

Meanwhile, head coach of the South African National Under 23 team Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba told SuperSport that he is excited to be playing this match on the back of a great performance by his charges against Benin.

“The players are still in the right frame of mind, winning against Benin has really lifted their spirits and I don’t think the technical team will find it difficult to motivate them for this clash.

“Our approach is that we should not concede a goal as that is a good way of starting a two-legged tie, but at the same time we need to go for goals so that we are a bit comfortable in the second leg,” said Mashaba.

Mashaba has kept the core of the team that did duty against Benin, which means he will not tamper much with the strategy.

“It would have would have been great to have the same team for this match, but it is just unfortunate that some players were not able to make this time around.

“It is not a crisis though, we have enough ammunition to tackle Zimbabwe and with the confidence gained from our victory last weekend, we are positive we will get a positive result. The bulk of the team that played last week is here, that’s what matters, we don’t have to make wholesale changes.

This week will be a continuation of what we did in the past week, and to try and rectify the minor mistakes we committed last week,” said Mashaba.

AllAfrica – All the Time