What a bad week for all sports loving Zimbabweans. From soccer, tennis, cricket to rugby, Zimbabweans would want to quickly forget this past weekend as all national teams that participated in various stages of different tournaments lost.
Below we take a look at some national teams that were in action over the weekend.
Plucky Warriors Falter
A fortnight after winning the COSAFA Senior Cup, the Zimbabwe senior men’s football team were booted out by lowly, but resolute, Brave Warriors of Namibia in the CHAN Qualifiers first round through a penalty shootout.
The Warriors never looked like they wanted to advance to the next round if their performance, or lack of it, is to be considered.
Prior to yesterday’s loss, it had appeared as if the Zimbabwe Warriors had a divine right to take part at the finals of this tournament designed exclusively for home-based players, as they had participated in every edition of the tournament since its inception in 2009.
The Warriors fell short when it mattered most, failing to soak the pressure that comes with playing before their home crowd to lose 5-4 on penalties.
Sables slaughtered in Bulawayo
The Sables reminded everyone that the name Bulawayo is derived from the ‘Bulala’ which is a place of slaughter or place of killing. True to the word Bulala, the Sables suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of visiting Kenya in the Africa Gold Cup on Saturday.
Zimbabwe’s faint hopes of winning their first continental title in five years suffered a hammer blow after going down 41-22 to Kenya.
Despite the Sables dominating possession and territory for longer periods of the match, Kenya still came out on top as they outscored the hosts by five tries to three to keep their hopes of winning the Rugby Africa Gold Cup alive.
Young Chevrons blown away by Windies
The Zimbabwe under 19 Cricket team were also on the receiving end of a bad weekend for Zimbabwe as they were blown away by clinical West Indies under 19 in Harare.
Zimbabwe lost by 39 runs to a more clinical Windies in a grudge match following the two teams highly charged last meeting at the Under 19 world cup last year.
The Windies now lead the three match series one and Zimbabwe will be hoping for a better result in the next outing.
Zim Davies Team bounces back
The only consolation for Zimbabwe came in the form of the Davies Cup team which beat Kenya 2-0 in the promotional/ playoffs to bounce back into the Europe/Africa Zone Group II, on Saturday in Cairo, Egypt.
Zimbabwe was up against Rwanda, Egypt and Nigeria in Group A.
THE victory means Zimbabwe earned one of the two tickets in the Europe/Africa Zone Group II.
