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By Rainos Mukanya

The warriors of Zimbabwe’s chances of qualifying for the knock out stages of the Chan for the first time in three attempts have been dented after they were held to a frustrating scoreless draw by the Cranes of Uganda in a match played at the Athlone stadium in Cape Town on Thursday.

Zimbabwe who controlled the match from start to finish were, just like in the match against Morocco, let down by poor finishing much to the disappointment of coach Ian Gorowa.

The result means Zimbabwe now have one foot on the plane home and know that even if they beat Burkina Faso on Monday they still need results in the other match to go their way.

After a first-minute scare, with a defensive mix up almost gifting the deadly Yunus Sentamu a sniff at goal, Zimbabwe eased into gear with Tawanda Muparati’s third minute grounder from the edge of the box finding the keeper well positioned.

Then Eric Chipeta and Danny Phiri sent their efforts wide in the 6th and 9th minutes respectively before Ali Sadiki’s powerful strike from a tight angle narrowly missed the post in the 10th minute. By then Zimbabwe already had five shots at goal while Uganda had none.
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Donald Ngoma should have put Zimbabwe ahead in the 21st minute when he got to an end of a Chipeta freekick, but his diving header found the keeper. This was after Muparati’s volley in the 18th minute had narrowly missed the post.

The pattern of the match was now hammered stone; Zimbabwe attacking, Uganda sitting back, soaking it up. Sadiki missed another chance in the 35th minute when he got to the end of a Milton Ncube cross only to flash his header wide.

Then in the 54th minute the striker Nelson Maziwisa was sprung from the bench in an attempt to heighten the threat on the Uganda goal, but he too, just like Ngoma, the man he replaced, failed to cope with the intensity of the match. Amid all the mediocrity Kuda Mahachi continued to impress on the left wing delivering some incisive crosses which were wasted by the strikers.

Two glaring misses deep in the second half summed up Zimbabwe’s woeful night. First, a long clearance from Chigova found Mahachi who whipped in a cross towards an unmarked Simba Sithole, but the striker headed wide with the keeper already committed.

Then another Mahachi cross was sent wide by substitute Charles Sibanda in the 74th minute. As the warriors piled on the pressure, they were almost sucker-punched in the 87th minute when Sentamu found himself with acres of space in the box, but he chose to shoot instead of squaring the ball to an unmarked Iguma.

The Zimbabwean frowns and Uganda smiles at the end showed what an unexpected result this was. In another Group B match played at the same stadium Morocco and Burkina Faso played out a 1-1 draw. Morocco scored in the first minute through El Bahr Brahim, while the Stallions equalised right at the death through Bassirou Ouedraogo.

The result means any of the four teams in the group have a chance of going through.

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