Mapeza's Arrogance Backfires

Mapeza's Arrogance Backfires.

The sight of his Kelvin Madzongwe crawling in front of Thomas Partey as Zimbabwe conceded the second goal was hard to take. Mapeza of course has his brigade of praise and worshippers who will babysit  him through this one, they will tell you that we are not at Ghana's level and they will not tell you that Nigeria fell to Central Africa on Friday.

The inclusion of Kelvin Madzongwe was neither tactical nor technical but based on whims and ego. A Teenage Hadebe with jetlag should start ahead of an untested novice any day. In a bid to behave like the Pep Guardiola of Zimbabwe Mapeza virtually doused any hopes of the Warriors launching a miraculous comeback in the world cup campaign. The inclusion of his FC Platinum players Rahman Kutsanzira and Kelvin Madzongwe in the initial squad was ridiculous enough, to include one of them in the starting eleven was an insult to the nation. The defence is a very sensitive area and if tampered with willy nilly the effects are usually felt with astonishing immediacy.

In our case the Warriors got thumped by three goals to one and the second goal a slap in the smirking face of a  coach whose claim to holiness is Galatasaray.

The match itself showed that the Black Stars were there for the taking. Ghana having taken an early lead found themselves pegged back with Zimbabwe equalising via a Knowledge Musona spot kick. Moments later the talismanic Warriors captain should have thrust his charges ahead but his sweetly struck shot was beaten back into play by Ghana's goalkeeper.Then Partey came to the party while Ayew got a captain's goal, a free header.

The less said about the comical substitutions made by Mapeza the better. He hauled off our best player of the day Jordan Zemura for Bruce Kangwa and then sent in Hadebe for Nakamba.
Zimbabwe hosts Ghana on Tuesday at the National Sports Stadium.

Fortune Favours The Brave 

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