Langton Nyakwenda in MARRAKECH, Morocco
Angola . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1) 1
Zimbabwe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1) 1
HISTORICALLY, Zimbabwe have always done well in their last group games at the Africa Cup of Nations tournament, since making their debut in 2004.
In their last group games, the Warriors beat Algeria 2-1 in Tunisia in 2004, a World-Cup-bound Ghana at the 2006 edition in Egypt and Guinea in Cameroon in 2022, but all those matches were dead rubbers.
They also finished win-less on two occasions in Gabon in 2017 and in Egypt two years later.
The Warriors will now need that third-game lucky charm when they clash with rivals South Africa in the final Group B assignment next Monday.
They managed a point against Angola at the Grand Stade de Marrakech in Morocco yesterday, in a game they could have easily won, had they been more clinical in front of goal.
Angola opened the scoring through Jacinto Muondo Dala, also known as Gelson Dala, who beat Washington Arubi on his near post on 24 minutes.
The Al Wakrah forward was allowed too much space inside the box.
When Angola were preparing to go for the breather with that slender lead, Zimbabwe’s veteran striker Knowledge Musona pounced.
He received an arrowed cross from live wire winger Bill Antonio and calmly controlled the ball before firing past a desperate goalkeeper Hugo Marques.
In the end, it was a story of ifs.
Maybe the Warriors could have won the contest if Antonio had converted that golden chance inside the opening three minutes.
Zimbabwe could have buried Angola in the second half if Tawanda Chirewa’s stinging shot was not acrobatically saved by Marques.
Perhaps the score would have been 2-1 in favour of the Warriors if another substitute Ishmael Wadi converted that last gasp chance.
But, the reality is Zimbabwe now need a victory against perennial rivals South Africa at the same venue on Mon-day to keep their hopes of qualifying for the second round alive.
The Warriors have never progressed beyond the group stages since 2004 when they made their bow at the biennial continental football show-piece.
Fortunately, in coach Marian “Mario” Marinica, the Warriors now have a coach with the guts.
The Romanian, who led Malawi into the knock-out stage in 2022, remained calm after the match yesterday and immediately declared war on Bafana Bafana.
“We still have a chance, we need a win and with four points we still have a chance,’’ Marinica boldly told the media.
With four points Zimbabwe will have a good chance of qualifying for the knock-out stage as one of the best third-placed teams.
At least Zimbabwe are now scoring in every game since Marinica took over from Michael Nees early November.
However, Marinica still feels his strikers need to be more clinical in front of goal.
And the defenders have to also be alert at critical moments of the game.
Against Egypt in the opening game, Zimbabwe conceded in stoppage time and ended up losing 2-1, in a game they led for 64 minutes.
“Unfortunately, a little bit of composure was missing from our side, but we tried to win and it didn’t happen,” he said.
The Romanian made four changes to the starting line up that faced Egypt.
Divine Lunga, Macauley Bonne, Bill Antonio and Knowledge Musona replaced the Munashe Garananga (out injured), Washington Navaya, Daniel Msendami and Godknows Murwira.
Antonio, who plays club football in Belgium had the first clear cut chance, when he cut inside from the left before firing over, with Marques at his mercy.
“We made some adjustments from the last game.
“We needed to tighten the defence and not concede goals in key moments of the game,” added Marinica.
He has been in charge of the Warriors for only 34 days but Marinica already sees a bright future for the national team.
“The boys are responding well,” he said.
“The game was very tough, we knew that we had a very, very, difficult opponent and they proved that.
“It was a very balanced game, they had chances, we also had very clear chances.”
Was it a point gained, or dropped for Zim?
“You would feel it’s two points dropped considering we created chances and we had a big chance to finish off the game.
“But at the same time we managed to come back from behind against a tough team, so from that end it was a point gained,” said Marinica.
The Romanian gaffer is happy with the support he is getting from ZIFA and the government at large.
“Once again a Merry Christmas to everyone and all the best to all your families and all the best to all of them from Zimbabwe back home.
“We really appreciate their support and at the same time we try to thank everyone that was behind us including the country’s President and everyone from the parliament.”
While Chirewa mesmerised in the second half, the man of the match award was given to Angolan skipper Alfredo Kulembe Ribeiro, who is simply known as Freddy.
The Turkish-based player praised Warriors winger Antonio in his post-match interview.
“Zimbabwe are tough opponents.
“They are fast, especially the left winger (Antonio), he was good.
“He was giving us a lot of trouble,” said Freddy.
It was 1-1 at half time as popular jiti song Manhanga Matete blazed from the PA system.
And that’s how the game ended.
Zimbabwe and Angola lost their opening matches against Egypt and South Africa.
They are now tied on one point each going into the last round of fixtures.
This was the first ever meeting between the two Southern African nations at the AFCON finals.
Angola, who had eight European-based players in their starting line up, will play Egypt in their last match.
It was as it were before, for Zimbabwe who have never won any of their opening two games at the AFCON finals anchor the standings in alphabetical order.
But the Warriors will feel they deserved to bag this one.
They will also feel that Kenyan referee Peter Waweru Kamaku, a university lecturer in Nairobi, should have shown Manuel Da Silva a red card for a dangerous foul on Prince Dube early on in the game.
Dube, scorer of that brilliant goal against Egypt, was once again a tricky customer for the Angolans.
Zimbabwe will be back at the Grand Stade de Marrakech on Monday to face Bafana Bafana in a winner-takes all clash.
TEAMS:
Angola: H. Marques, J. Buatu, C. Mukoni Lourenco, D. Do Carmo, M. Nzola, J. Muondo Dala, A. Carnero, B. Manuel, B. Mukendi (Z. Luvumbo 68), A. Ribeiro Freddy, M. Cafumana (A Muanza Maestro 68)
Zimbabwe: W. Arubi, E. Jalai; T. Hadebe (B. Galloway 36’), G. Takwara, D. Lunga, M. Nakamba, J. Fabisch, Bill Antonio (I. Wadi 56’), K. Musona (T. Chirewa 56’), M. Bonne (W. Navaya 88), P. Dube
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