Tapera Proud Of Warriors Despite 2024 COSAFA Cup Exit
Warriors interim coach Jairos Tapera expressed pride in his squad despite their elimination from the ongoing Hollywoodbets COSAFA Cup 2024 in South Africa.
Although the Warriors secured victories against Comoros and Zambia with scores of 1-0 and 2-0 respectively, their hopes of advancing to the semifinals were dashed after a 2-0 defeat to Kenya in the final Group B match on Tuesday.
Despite their strong start, which saw them leading the group with six points, Zimbabwe could not maintain their momentum and exited the tournament.
Interestingly, Zimbabwe secured a 1-0 victory against Comoros, Comoros triumphed over Kenya with a 2-0 score, and Kenya emerged victorious against Zimbabwe with a 2-0 result.
Reflecting on the team’s performance after Tuesday’s match, Tapera said that he was proud of the players’ efforts. He said:
I can’t say I am proud of the six points that we got because there was a chance for us to move forward.
But I am proud of the performance of the boys. Most of these guys, it was their first time to play in an international competition and they showed a lot of skill and organisation, which I feel if given an opportunity, they can graduate to the next level.
Apart from the result, I’m proud of the boys. They showed a lot of courage and going forward I am sure we will have a stable national team.
Reflecting on the loss to the Harambee Stars, Tapera lamented the Warriors’ missed opportunities and their inability to maintain possession of the ball. He said:
It was a tale of two halves. We were not bad in the first half; we were so much organised and we were moving around the ball.
We got some chances in the first half which I thought we should have scored. If we had scored those chances, Kenya were going to be desperate and become vulnerable, but they scored first and we became desperate in a way.
We tried to change the movements and positions to add some strikers but we were not organised in terms of keeping the ball.
In the end, Zimbabwe plummeted from the top of Group B before the match to third place, as three teams finished tied on six points and had to be separated by goal difference.
Comoros, who secured a 1-0 victory over Zambia on the same day, claimed the top spot and advanced directly to the semifinals as group leaders.
Meanwhile, Kenya’s fate hinges on Wednesday’s Group C results to determine if they qualify as the best runner-up.
Defending champions Zambia departed the tournament without earning a single point.
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