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By Rainos Mukanya

The Warriors of Zimbabwe and Mali clash in a Chan quarter final match at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday night.

It is match between two teams with contrasting tales of their group stage matches. While the Malians have been free scoring topping Group A, the Warriors have had a watertight defence conceding none to finish second behind Morocco in Group B.

Zimbabwean fans are confident the Warriors will progress to the next round. ‘We will go all the way to the final,’ said Taurai Murekwe of Warren Park. Most fans interviewed, however, bemoaned the Warriors’ profligacy in their group matches which has seen them managing only one goal.

‘The strikers know that this is make or break so will be at their best against Mali because we cannot afford to miss chances as we did in our earlier games,’ warned Thom Dube from Kuwadzana.

It is the Malian forward quartet of Ibourahima Sidibe, Idrissa Traore, Abdoulaye Sissoko and Moussa Traore that is likely to pose a challenge for the Warriors. However, the Warriors defence has proven that they are capable of dealing with any strike force having shut out the deadly Moroccan forward Iajour and the slippery Ugandan marksman Yunus Sentamu.

While the Malians are physically imposing, the Warriors also have some big players such as Eric Chipeta. The Malian media have this week highlighted that the omens aren’t exactly great for their team. In their four meetings with the Warriors so far they have managed only one win and a draw losing twice with Zimbabwe winning the last encounter in 2012.

The Warriors will miss the services of Charles Sibanda who picked up a knock in their final group match against Burkina Faso. Gorowa is likely to maintain the back four of Partson Jaure, Milton Ncube, Eric Chipeta and Hardlife Zvirekwi with Danny Phiri doing the clean up in midfield.

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