GOLDEN GOAL . . . Zimbabwe goalscorer, Masimba Mambare leads the celebrations at Athlone last night after he powered home a priceless header which proved enough to take the Warriors to the quarter-finals. (Picture by Tawanda Mudimu)
Petros Kausiyo in CAPE TOWN, South Africa
Zimbabwe….. (0) 1
Burkina Faso.. 0
Zimbabwe’s Warriors powered their way into a first-ever African Nations Championships quarter-final when they eliminated Burkina Faso with a hard-fought win at Athlone last night. Vice-captain Masimba Mambare struck the winner and Zimbabwe’s first goal at this competition when he rose high to connect with a Milton Ncube cross in the 56th minute.
Ian Gorowa and his men etched their names into local football history when they became the first group of Warriors to go beyond the group stages of the CHAN after two previous attempts in 2009 and 2011 had failed to yield results.
The Warriors will now face West African giants Mali who topped Group A ahead of Nigeria, and the eliminated the pair of hosts South Africa and Mozambique.
Mambare had been the main target of boo boys from an otherwise vociferous crowd that had turned Athlone into a carnival atmosphere.
To his credit the Dynamos new-boy did not let the boos and calls from the terraces on coach Gorowa to haul him off as early as the half-time affect him and kept probing on the right channel where he played just in front of the enterprising Hardlife Zvirekwi.
In the end, the 28-year-old former Highlanders and Motor Action man beat veteran Burkina Faso goalkeeper Mohamed Traore with a firm header as he was rewarded for his persistence after he sneaked into the Stallions box just as Zimbabwe once again used their liveliest flank to great effect.
But, as had been the case in their previous games, the Warriors were still guilty of missing a number of good chances that could have seen them emerge with a much bigger win and a place at the top of the Group B table.
Instead, it was the Atlas Lions of Morocco who thumped Uganda 3-1 in another match at Cape Town Stadium, who topped the group and set up a quarter-final showdown with Nigeria.
But for Gorowa and his men, what mattered most last might was simply getting the win that had proved elusive since their arrival in Cape Town.
Stung by his team’s failure to score goals in the games against Morocco and Uganda, Gorowa made four changes to the side that started in the 0-0 draw against the Cranes.
Gorowa brought in How Mine striker Simba Sithole for his Dynamos namesake, and also handed a first CHAN start to Highlanders midfielder Peter “Rio” Moyo while also giving starting berths to the pair of Charles Sibanda and Mambare, who had previously been thrown in from the bench.
The coach also relegated Ali Sadiki, Donald Ngoma and Tawanda Muparati to the bench as he sought some answers to the team’s barren run.
Moyo made a huge difference with a man-of-the-match performance after being thrust as the team’s playmaker and helped the Warriors to create openings in attack as the Southern Africans won the crucial midfield battle.
The dreadlocked Highlanders midfielder could have actually emerged from Athlone with two goals for his five-star showing but twice he somehow skied his efforts from close range on the occasions that he was left with too much room to strike from the edge of the box.
Despite making four changes, Gorowa kept faith with the defence led by skipper Partson Jaure that has been providing full cover for tall goalkeeper George Chigova as the Warriors sought to remain the Cosafa region’s flag bearers following the elimination of Bafana Bafana and the Mambas of Mozambique who finished third and fourth behind Mali and Nigeria in Group A on Sunday night.
The Warriors showed early intentions to strike when defensive midfielder Danny Phiri forced Kabore to leap full stretch to tip over a ferocious free-kick struck from about 20 metres out.
In the 12th minute Moyo shot wide from the edge of the box after coming to the end of a neat build up involving Sithole and Kuda Mahachi.
Gorowa was short of words soon after the match and described it as “an emotional night for the team and for everyone’’.
“It has been very difficult to score and win but I think now that we have won, we can move on from here. I thought Burkina Faso played very well but we took one of our chances and scored.
“I sent out two attacking midfielders to try and increase our options because we badly needed to win and I am happy that all the new guys who came in today did very well,’’ Gorowa said.
TEAMS
Zimbabwe: George Chigova, Hardlife Zvirekwi, Milton Ncube, Eric
Chipeta, Partson Jaure, Danny Phiri, Masimba Mambare, Peter Moyo (O.
Machapa 89th min), Simba Sithole (S. Sithole 59th min), Charles
Sibanda (T. Muparati 70th min), Kuda Mahachi.
Burkina Faso: Mohamed Kabore, Yelleboure Sango, Issa Gouo, Issoufou
Dayo, Aboubacar Traore, Eric Traore, Winkome Zoungrana, Youssouf
Kabore, Bassirou Ouedraogo, Mbah Kone, Elisee To