Warriors in tough draw THE wait is over! Zimbabwe’s Warriors were yesterday handed a cagey African Nations Championships draw in which they were pooled against resurgent Burkina Faso, North African giants Morocco and East African campaigners Uganda.The Warriors, seeded at this tournament which is reserved for those players playing in their national leagues only, were drawn to headline Group B and will be based in Cape Town where they will be using Athlone Stadium. Cape Town is also the city that will stage Group A, easily “the Group of Death”, which has hosts South Africa, African champions Nigeria, Mali, who finished third at the last Nations Cup, and CHAN debutants Mozambique. The Warriors will get their third successive CHAN appearance underway with a clash against the Atlas Lions of Morocco on January 12, a day after the tournament would have kick-started with the opening ceremony and the Southern African derby tie between Mozambique and hosts Bafana Bafana at the Cape Town stadium. In the other Group A match on the opening day, Mali will clash Nigeria at the same stadium. Zimbabwe’s clash against the Uganda Cranes on January 16, will precede their crunch showdown against the Stallions of Burkina Faso, who will arrive in Cape Town for their debut CHAN appearance but with their stock having risen following a fairytale Nations Cup run that ended in defeat to Nigeria in the 2013 final at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg. Burkina Faso, who beat Togo 3-1 in the preliminaries before eliminating Niger on penalties, have also progressed to the play-offs of the 2014 African Zone World Cup qualifiers. Warriors coach Ian Gorowa was on hand to witness the draw together with team manager Sharrif Mussa, Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze and the association’s vice-president Ndumiso Gumede. Gorowa described the draw as “tough and fair’’ and reckoned that the key to the Warriors’ success in the tournament would be adequate preparations while Mussa was hopeful they would be able to secure warm-up matches against teams such as Tunisia and Kenya that play a similar game to their respective opponents. Although Cape Town would be far from the majority of the Warriors fans, who would have relished taking a drive to Polokwane, Gorowa felt the senior side would still be equally at home in the Mother City. “It’s tough, it’s not easy but I still think it is fair. I think Groups A, B and C are very tough. “At least we know what we dealing with so we are going to prepare (adequately). “Morocco knocked out Tunisia and that shows how far they have gone with their game, Burkina Faso were losing finalists at AFCON and Uganda have been doing well in the Cecafa tournaments,’’ Gorowa said. The 41-year-old coach also noted that tough opponents also awaited the teams that progress from Group B as the Group A winners will face the runners-up in Group B while the Warriors could play any of Nigeria, South Africa, Mali, or Mozambique should they top their pool and any of those teams finish as runners-up in Group A. Gorowa’s attention is at the moment, however, fixed on the immediate opponents with whom his Warriors were drawn against yesterday. “For now I will need to assess the teams that we are going to play against. I think I will go away from this draw a happy man because the quality of the teams in this tournament will help us to fully prepare for our main goal which is the 2015 African Cup of Nations. “I am sure we will enjoy home support, there is a good Zimbabwean population in Cape Town but for people driving from Zimbabwe, it is a bit hard on them because it would be from one end to the other far end. “You would have wanted a not so tough draw but again you have to prove yourself. . . We will have to be ready and I think we will see some quality football,’’ Gorowa said. Playing in Cape Town would also be some homecoming show for Gorowa as he cut his coaching teeth in the Mother City while at Ajax Cape Town following the premature end of his playing career through injury. Federation of Uganda Football Associations president Lawrence Mulindwa reckoned that being pooled against the Warriors, the Stallions and the Atlas Lions would provide the Cranes with “tricky assignments’’. Uganda recently appointed widely travelled coach Milutin “Mitcho’’ Sredojevic and Mulindwa is confident that the presence of the former Orlando Pirates and Al Hilal gaffer in their dressing room will inspire them to better fortunes. “I like the way the draw was conducted, it was very transparent. It is a tricky group. There will be a lot of competition in the group, it will be explosive because Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe are very eager to come out tops. “I think the fact that we participated in the last edition will help us because we have learnt our lessons this time around . “We have a new coach Mitcho who has been very successful winning the games that he has taken charge of so far and I feel that his experience with African football will help us a lot. “Cape Town is the best venue that we would have hoped for and we are proud to be playing our group games there,’’ Mulindwa said. The Cranes had a nightmarish CHAN tournament in Sudan two years ago where they finished winless but they overcame Tanzania 3-1 in Kampala with Frank Kalanda striking twice for a 4-1 aggregate victory. South Africa are not only hoping that they will stage a memorable tournament but they will also be eager to see Bafana Bafana doing well. Safa president Kirsten Nematandani said he was hopeful that despite the tough draw Bafana Bafana would still go all the way on home soil. Earlier in the year, South Africa fell at the quarter- final stage of the Nations Cup. Bafana Bafana also failed to go past the group stage when they hosted the 2010 World Cup. “It will be a very exciting tournament particularly with home-based players. The presence of Nigeria and Mali coupled with Mozambique makes it ‘the Group of Death’. “We expect tough opposition from all the teams and every participant at the tournament,’’ Nematandani said. 2014 CHAN Draw: Group A: South Africa, Mali, Nigeria, Mozambique Group B: Zimbabwe, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Morocco Group C: Ghana, Libya, Ethiopia, Congo Group D: DR Congo, Gabon, Burundi, Mauritania
Posted on: Thu, 19 Sep 2013 07:00:07 +0000
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