The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
NOT even a package of US$64 000 that was meant to be shared by the players as well as the technical staff was enough to inspire the Zimbabwe senior national football team to victory as a last-minute penalty saw them lose 1-0 to Ethiopia in a 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifier played at the Bahir Dar International Stadium, in Bahir Dar in Ethiopia on Tuesday (today).
Central defender, Aschalew Tamene converted a penalty six minutes into the referee’s optional time to hand Zimbabwe their first defeat in the qualifiers after the Warriors drew 0-0 with Bafana Bafana at the National Sports Stadium last Friday.
The defeat saw Zimbabwe drop to the bottom of group G with one point and they are the only team yet to record a win so far while others have triumphed once each.
Coach Zdravko Logarusic, with horrible record of one win in 14 matches will come under heavy scrutiny once again with calls for him to be sacked to grow even louder after the humiliation in Ethiopia. Logarusic’s record now reads, played 14, won one, lost eight and drew five.
Zimbabweans continue to wonder what his employers at the Zimbabwe Football Association continue to see in the Croatian whose sole victory came against Botswana in March. While that win, a 1-0 triumph in Francistown saw the Warriors book their place at next year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, Chicken Inn coach, Joey Antipas secured half the points which saw Zimbabwe qualify for Cameroon.
Zimbabwe starting lineup: T Shumba, A Mudimu, O Bhasera, T Chimwemwe, D Lunga, M Munetsi, T Kamusoko, T Dzvukamanja, P Chikwende, K Billiat, K Musona
Substitutes
W Arubi, F Madhanaga, M Mapisa, G Murwira, K Moyo, T Rusike, K Mahachi, J Fabisch, I Wadi, B Sarupinda
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