Benjani

(JAN 24, 2006) ZIMBABWE coach Charles Mhlauri blamed two fatal defensive errors and a missed golden chance for his team’s defeat last night but said their Nations Cup campaign was still alive. Mhlauri said his Warriors would regroup and fight another day in the Group of Death despite the setback that came with their 0-2 loss at the hands of Senegal last night. Speaking shortly after the match, Mhlauri said the Warriors should not have been caught on the break on the two occasions that led to the goals. Having defended tenaciously in the first half, which ended goalless, the Warriors lost the battle after they lost their concentration twice in the second period.

"I think we made two mistakes defensively and that cost us the game. "On the first occasion we lost possession and we were caught out and we should have defended better on their second goal. "Our game plan was to let them come at us, frustrate them and then hit them on the break and it was working well. We should have created more chances but we didn’t and we lost the game.

"I’m disappointed with the result obviously and I am also not happy with the overall performance."

But Mhlauri is not throwing in the towel in this tough group. "Obviously it’s tough now because we lost this game but we still have two games to play and anything can happen in football. "I’ve talked about our need to have strong players and I think that is becoming apparent to everyone and it’s an area that we need to work on very hard." Mhlauri had said the opening game against Senegal would be the decisive tie. He did not change his tone last night, despite the defeat, and said the Warriors should have fought for a positive result yesterday.

Zimbabwe’s lightweight midfielders had virtually no chance against the massive Senegalese players and were constantly harassed from the ball. That destroyed the creativity of the Warriors and isolated Benjani and Kawondera.

But still the Warriors created one great chance that should have been taken and could have changed the course of the game. It fell to Benjani.

"It was the decisive moment," said Mhlauri who believes that the Warriors could have bounced back and even won the game if they had taken that golden chance. He believes a goal at that point would have destroyed the Senegalese’s spirits and the Warriors could have grabbed the initiative to destroy the Teranga Lions. But Benjani sent his effort, from the closest of ranges, soaring into the sky on a clear night. Shades of Wilfred Mugeyi in Tunisia 2004? Probably.

At least Mugeyi had a tougher task, having to bring the ball down with his chest and then aiming at goal, all under pressure. Benjani had the goal at his mercy, the goalkeeper was down and out of the picture and there were only four metres away from goal. Somehow he shot over the cross bar and with that went the Warriors’ chances of pulling a big surprise.

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