Zimbabweans Hopeful of Warriors Win Over Mali in CHAN ClashZimbabwe’s national soccer team, The Warriors, have a tall order, Saturday, when they trot onto the Umuganda Stadium in the small Rwanda town of Rubavu, for their Africa Nations\nChampionships Group D showdown against the Eagles of Mali. The Warriors’ quarter final chances are hanging by a thread following\nthe 1-0 defeat to Zambia, Wednesday, and the team needs to win this game at all costs to remain with a realistic chance of progressing to the quarter finals.\n\nThe Zimbabweans anchor the four team table with no point, while Mali\nand Uganda are in joint second position with a single point after they\ndrew two-all in their opening game.\n\nZambia’s Chipolopolo lead the group with three points and will qualify\nfor the quarter finals, if they beat Uganda in the other Group D\ngame Saturday.\n\nThis means a loss for the Warriors against the Eagles will lead to\nelimination from the 16 team competition.\n\nHowever, the Warriors are aware of the importance of this clash and\nhave been training twice a day. Renowned football commentator Charles Mabika believes there is still hope for coach Kalisto Pasuwa’s side.\n\n“The hope is still there. We still have two games to play. I don’t see\nanything stopping us from beating both Mali and Uganda. It can still\nbe done,” said Mabika.\n\nMabika, however, says it will not be easy for Zimbabwe, considering that they are the only team that needs to win both their remaining games to have a realistic chance of proceeding to the next\nround.\n\n“It is going to be difficult right now. Let us not run away from it.\nWe have the difficult task of trying to win both games,” added Mabika.\n\nOn the other hand, football fan Dannyboy Mutyambizi says people should\nforget about the Zambian 1-0 debacle and look forward to the Mali game\nwith optimism.\n\nHe added that the game against Mali is a new game altogether but warns\nthe Warriors that they need to fight hard to collect maximum points.\n\n“This is a new game all together. Zimbabwe must fight hard to win,”\nsaid Muytambizi\n\nFootball analyst Wallace Mawire hopes that the Warriors will come out\ntops in the game but is straight to the point that they should guard\nagainst complacency against the West Africans.\n\n“I am seeing my home country winning. But they should not relax and be\ncomplacent thinking it is an automatic win,” said Mawire.\n\nPasuwa himself has promised to make some changes after his strikers\nand in particular the Premiership’s 2015 top scorer Edmore\nChirambadare missed too many easy to score chances against the\nChipolopolo.\n\nAt around 5pm Saturday or somewhere thereafter, Zimbabwe football\nfans will know whether their team is still in the run or has been\neliminated from the 2016 Africa Nations Championships. No media source currently available