Young Warriors held by Cameroon

National Under-20 coach, Jairos Tapera yesterday ripped into Zifa for failing to plan and organise a camp for the Young Warriors, who, to their credit, produced a battling display to hold fancied Cameroon to a draw in an Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations second round first leg qualifier on a chilly afternoon at the National Sports Stadium yesterday.

The Young Warriors were together for just three days in preparation for the match. And in those three days, they were kicked out of their lodge, before Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries leader Walter Magaya took them in at his lodges. He also paid their allowances.

Tapera revealed that he had to use his personal resources to get the players into camp, with some of them only joining as late as on the eve of the match.

The team, however, did well, under the circumstances and carved out some decent opportunities to win the match, something that should give them hope going into the reverse fixture in Yaoundé.

When asked about his thoughts about the match, Tapera responded with an a monologue, lasting longer than three minutes. “I would rather not comment about the game, but on the preparations. I want to say hats off to the technical team for doing a splendid job,” he said.

“We were given three days, and of those days, we only trained for two, because the other day we couldn’t train due to a problem out of our control. Our opponents got two months of preparations and had three international friendlies. It’s sad for our country to do such, it’s unbelievable. It’s again unbelievable for these young boys to give such a splendid performance, after training for such a short time. Some of the players, we only trained with them on Saturday and I had to use my own resources to get some of these boys into camp.

“I had hoped we would not break camp after the previous round and prepare ourselves, so whatever is going to happen in the return leg is something else, but we have to prepare. Football is all about preparing. Even if these guys are naturally talented they still need to be in shape. But if we are going to just pick somebody from home, like I had to do to this young man Obert (Tafira), who I had to pick from home and trained with him for just 30 minutes, and we call that a national team?

“We need time to prepare and as long as we don’t prepare, we are going to lose in Cameroon. If we get enough preparations, we might do something better.”

Cameroon coach, Cyprian Besong Ashu was hopeful his side, after missing numerous chances yesterday, would win the second leg match. “We can live with it (the draw). It was an average performance from the boys and I know we can go two gears up. I see those chances going in when we play in Cameroon and I’m sure we will go through to the next round.”

It was a frenetic opening to the match and after the visitors were unable to profit from corners and two free kicks around the penalty box, the hosts threatened twice in quick succession. On the first occasion, Prince Dube used his pace to outrun the Cameroonian defence, but the goalkeeper, who appeared to be caught unawares, blocked the shot with his chest.

Soon after, Blessing Sibanda managed to get in front of a defender to meet a cross, but his connection drifted just wide off the target, with supporters up on their feet celebrating what they thought was the opening goal.

At the other end, on the 26th minute, Ekani Mpindi drew a smart save from the impressive Young Warriors goalkeeper Nelson Chadya.

The Young Indomitable Lions looked more confident in their play, particularly in the attacking third, with Frank Mikal causing all sorts of problems, but the final product was horrible.

Dube and his fellow attacking players were linking up well on the break and had another opportunity when Thomas Kadyaridzire released the Highlanders forward, on the hour mark. The striker once again used his pace to beat his marker, but could not keep his shot on target.

Zimbabwe started the second half on the front foot, with substitute Leeroy Mavunga exchanging passes with Dube, who shot wide.

Tapera’s boys were awarded a free kick just outside the opposition area on 75 minutes. Mavunga took responsibility but hit the wall and the ball fell invitingly for the unmarked Kadyaridzire, who somehow hit the side netting.

Two minutes later, substitute Tafira thought he had found the opener and was already wheeling away in celebration when his header beat Cameroon goalkeeper Simon Omossola, but not the bar.

It was all Cameroon, as the game entered its closing stages, as the West Africans attacked from all angles, but never troubled Chadya and his backline.

Teams

Zimbabwe: N Chadya, L Lunga, B Ncube, D Phiri, M Chodera, P Musaka (C), B Sibanda, A Ncube (L Mavunga, 46’), T Kadyaridzire (J Nyamuzihwa, 84’), P Dube, B Sibanda (O Tafira, 74’)

Cameroon: S Omossola, A Makani, R Ebolo, B Makongo (M Mbaissidara, 46’), J Bahanack, S Oum, M Hongla, M Ossomo (E Mben, 62’), E Mpindi, F Mikal, E Ayuk (H Andiolo, 71)