GOOD, BAD AND BEST
Zimbabwe ………………………………(1) 2
Swaziland ……………………………… (0) 1
ZIMBABWE coach Sunday Chidzambwa heaped praises on his captain Ovidy Karuru as the Warriors powered into the COSAFA Castle Cup semi-final following a deserved victory over Swaziland at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace last night.
The Warriors, who have been by far the most impressive team at this tournament, will now meet Lesotho in the semi-final at the same venue on Thursday while the other last four encounter pits Zambia against Tanzania.
Karuru, who has scored in all but one of the four games the Warriors have played here, took his tournament tally to six when opening the scoring for Zimbabwe and in the process set a new COSAFA record.
The highest number of goals scored by any Golden Boot award winner in this competition had been five and Karuru equalled that with a hat-trick in the 6-0 demolition of Seychelles last Friday. He is now the second all-time highest goal-scorer at the COSAFA Cup after the legendary Peter Ndlovu who has eight goals.
Last night the AmaZulu midfielder needed just 16 minutes to edge Zimbabwe into the lead, volleying home a cross from the right by Michelle Katsvairo before Golden Arrows forward Knox Mutizwa rose from the bench to clinch the Warriors winner in the 79th minute.
Swaziland had found their way back into the game just two minutes after the break through Felix Badenhorst. But it is Karuru, who is having a dream tournament, whom Chidzambwa reserved some praises after last night’s match. “Karuru is a very talented player who is able to play in so many positions. We can use him as a wide midfielder, behind the strikers or even as a striker because he is also very good in front of goal.
“In the first half we wanted him to control the midfield and he did that very well and when Swaziland equalised we pushed him more upfront and he helped to create a lot of opportunities for us,’’ Chidzambwa said.
The veteran coach was, however, not amused with the way the Warriors let Sihlangu back into the game after a dominant first half in which they missed some very good chances to kill the game.
“I think we played very well in the first half and had the game under control. We could have easily scored three or four goals. “But we started the second half badly and gave away a very easy goal that was a result of some poor positional play by one of the central defenders.
“We then made tactical changes to push Ovidy more upfront and we then regained control of the game and from one of the many corners and free-kicks we forced, our dead ball specialist Ocean (Mushure) sent a cross which Knox headed in,’’ Chidzambwa said.
Mutizwa rose from the bench to finally open his COSAFA Castle Cup account, heading home a 79th minute corner by Mushure as the Warriors made hard work of their victory after taking the foot of the pedal in the second period and allowing their opponents to find their way back into the game.
Maybe, after playing three games in six days, it was expected they would fizzle out in the second half. The Karuru show had started as early as the eighth minute when he shot just wide off the target. In 16th minute the Zimbabwe skipper got it right as the Warriors answered to the demand by Chidzambwa for an early goal in order to unsettle his opponents.
Seven minutes into the contest, the Warriors had sounded the warning shots when Prince Dube got to the end of a cross from Tigere on the right but just headed wide.
A minute later Katsvairo drew a good save from goalkeeper Sibonakaliso Vilakati as the Warriors got off to a promising start. As they have often done in this tournament, the Warriors were creating most of their raids from the flanks with Mushure being given an advanced role on the left while Katsvairo operated on the right channel.
In the 30th minute Dube thought he had found the Warriors’ second when his header beat the advancing goalkeeper but the ball just bubbled agonisingly wide with the technical bench and the Zimbabwe fans up on their feet in anticipation of a goal.
Six minutes later a sweeping down the left saw Manuvire sending a tantalising cross which an onrushing Katsvairo failed to put a touch to and Sihlangu survived.
For 43 minutes George Chigova was untested and the closest the big Polokwane City goalkeeper called into action was a minute before the break when Badenhorst was given too much space and drilled a low drive just wide off the upright post.
Sports Petros Kausiyo in SUN CITY, South Africa
