Spare us the excuses, we should have won at home against S.A

Anyone who knows Warriors coach Zdravko Logarusic will testify that he is very quick to do two things, eloquently-respond to questions and give excuses.

Even before the match, It was as clear as daylight, that the firebrand Croat will cite the unavailability of some key players and lack of match fitness, if his charges fail to beat South Africa in yesterday’s World Cup qualifier.

Your guess is as good as ours, he did.

‘It was a difficult game, and I will give you a few thoughts. You could see at the end of the game that we had a problem with match fitness, because only four of our players are playing regularly at their clubs,” he told the media after the game.

“We have (Onismor) Bhasera, Marshall (Munetsi), Khama (Billiat) and (Knowledge) Musona, who are playing regularly at their clubs, the rest of our players are not playing regularly. The boys from Zambia are in pre-season, the boys from South Africa they don’t play regularly- for example, (Kuda) Mahachi doesn’t play, (Divine) Lunga doesn’t play and even Alec too, doesn’t play,” added Logarusic.

One might want to sanitize what happened yesterday, but objectively-speaking, Logarusic’s charges were very fortunate to have come out with a point.

Takudzwa Chimwemwe’s heroic clearance off the line just after the hour-mark, turned out to be a huge difference-maker.

Put simply, despite playing at home, the Warriors barely-tested Rowan Williams, in goal for Bafana Bafana.

Khama Billiat’s shot, which was parried away by the SuperSport United goalkeeper, was the closest Zimbabwe came to breaking the deadlock.

They simply lacked that hunger to win the game, with big goalkeeper Talbert Shumba, on several occasions, slowing-down the game and taking his time to release the ball.

In fact, Shumba’s lack of urgency frustrated the Warriors coaches, who simultaneously-yelled at the Free State Stars goalie, late in the second half.

We will be told as the week progresses, inevitably, that the absence of key players was the difference, but a team with Knowledge Musona, Khama Billiat, Tino Kadewere, and Marshall Munetsi,  should be winning a game against South Africa.

Spare us the excuses please, we failed, we were just not good enough, period.

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