The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
FORMER Warriors midfield genius Esrom Nyandoro believes that Zimbabwe can finally progress beyond the group stage at this year’s Africa Cup of Nations which got underway in Gabon yesterday.
South Africa domiciled Nyandoro, a member of Zimbabwe’s two previous appearances at the continental showpiece in 2004 (Tunisia) and 2006 (Egypt) is convinced the possibility to pass the first stage is there, something the country has not achieved before. For that to happen, the former Warriors defensive midfielder thinks that Zimbabwe need a good start at the tournament when they take on Algeria tonight.
“Possibility is there to pass the group stages, something that we failed to do. Positive talk from the coach and the captain that they want to do well and what I know and have seen — Zimbabwe will be difficult to beat. They just have to have a good start to the tournament, positive results against Algeria, we are on a roll and other teams have to cancel each other,’’ said Nyandoro.
His hope is that the challenges in the build-up to the Warriors’ departure for the tournament which saw the players snub a send-off ceremony over money issues do not affect how they perform in Gabon. On what strengths the class of 2017 possess which the 2004 and 2006 squads did not possess, Nyandoro said while it was tough to tell, he pointed to the advances in technology which gives Kalisto Pasuwa an opportunity to get an insight as to how their opponents are playing.
“It’s always difficult to tell, I would not say we had weaknesses on our side, what we didn’t have was knowledge on how our opponents play, which is a different case now, with internet, technology, discs to watch games are there. They have a powerful strike force, we also had Peter, the late Adam, Mugeyi and Agent Sawu, on a fair note you can’t compare those players and the current ones,’’ said Nyandoro.
On the Warriors’ prospects against the Algerians who have two players turning out for defending English premiership champions Leicester City, Nyandoro said name and where you are playing do not matter on the day as what counts is how you apply yourself in that particular match.
African Footballer of the Year Riyad Mahrez and Islam Slimani play for Leicester City while another star player Yacine Brahimi is on the books of Portuguese giants Porto.
There is also midfielder Adlene Guedioura who plays for Watford in the English premiership. Besides the four, the George Leekens-coached Desert Foxes have their other players plying their trade in professional leagues in Turkey, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Croatia, Belgium and France.
“We played and beat Algeria in 2004, then and now you will agree that football has changed. They have big name players but name and where you are playing does not matter on the day, what matters is how you apply yourself on the day, as a team. We also have Musona, Khama and Katsande,’’ Nyandoro said.
Algeria suffered further injury woes with central midfielder picking up a knee injury at training ahead of tonight’s clash and was flown to Italy for treatment which means he cannot represent his country in Gabon.
A knee injury also ruled out attacking midfielder Ryad Boudebouz from the tournament when the Montpellier player got injured last month. Nyandoro is optimistic the Warriors can take advantage of the Algerians being weakened by the absence of some of their key players through injury.
“It may look or sound nice when you hear that your opponent is being disadvantaged because of injuries on their side, we can take advantage of that, of course the team becomes weaker but what matters is what happens on the day,’’ Nyandoro said.
The 36-year-old, who recently quietly retired from competitive football after his contract was not renewed at Mamelodi Sundowns where he spent 11 years, will be a pundit for a number of broadcasting channels during Afcon.
Nyandoro captained the Warriors on a number of occasions, the last being the second leg of the 2013 Afcon qualifier against Angola, a match Zimbabwe lost 2-0, for the Angolans to qualify.
This was after the Warriors had won the first leg 3-1 in Harare and were hugely expected to boom their place at the 2013 tournament held in South Africa.
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