COMOROS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0
ZIMBABWE . . . . . . . . . .(0) 1
THE Warriors made a winning return to the regional Cosafa Cup tournament after dispatching Comoros in their first Group B match in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, yesterday.
Manica Diamonds’ Michael Tapera delivered the killer blow in the 52nd minute following a neat interchange of passes.
This was Jairosi Tapera’s first win in his senior men’s national team audition as an interim coach.
The win meant a lot for the under-fire technical team after they presided over two defeats against Lesotho and South Africa in the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers earlier this month.
Tapera has been a subject of attacks on social media, particularly after he named all the three United Kingdom-based players on the bench when many thought it was an opportunity to give them a run and assess them in a competitive match.
After the game, Tapera defended his team selection and promised to give all the players an opportunity to play.
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“We made five substitutions, we are not afraid of letting these boys show their talent,” he said.
“We will give everyone the opportunity and I am very confident that by the end of this tournament, everyone would have gotten an opportunity to play.”
On the match itself, he said he was happy with how his team improved in the second half after a flat first half when they struggled to break down Comoros.
He showed his appreciation for the Zimbabwean supporters who turned in their numbers to support the team.
“South Africa is our second home. We have support all over South Africa, we are brothers,” Tapera said.
“We had more talent, we were more organised and we could move the ball around in the first half. However, we could not hurt them. But organisationally, we were superior.
“We realised we needed to do something in the second half to hurt these guys. We made sure to use our two wingers and it worked for us. We identified the weak points of the opponent and it worked well for us.”
The Warriors controlled the game from the off, with Takunda Benhura testing the Comoros keeper with a deflected effort two minutes into the game.
The early chance would set the tone for the first stanza, where Tapera’s men created the better chances, but could not finish off.
The only time that Comoros threatened was in the 33rd minute when Djambare shot from outside the box, but the effort went inches wide.
Zimbabwe started the second half the same way they started the first, taking the game to their opponents.
This time, they were rewarded when Tapera fired home after some good interplay.
It almost got even better when Malvern Hativagoni tried an ambitious shot from the centre line to try and catch the Comoros keeper who was off his line, but the goalkeeper scampered back and saved himself some blushes with a superb save.
Comoros threw bodies forward late on to try and get something out of the match, but the Warriors defended resolutely, with goalkeeper Raphael Pitisi making two good saves, including an 87th minute block when he came flying off his line to avert danger.
Captain Godknows Murwira was named man of the match.
Zimbabwe’s next game is against defending champions Zambia on Sunday.
Teams
Comoros: Adel, Zamir B, Youssouf, Omar, Mohamed, Haslene, Youssouf, Hadji, Raidou, Hilali, Djambare.
Zimbabwe: Raphael Pitisi (GK), Emmanuel Jalai, Farai Banda, Malvern Hativagoni, Godknows Murwira (C), Richard Hachiro, Donald Mudadi (Tavengwa, 66’), Juan Mutudza, Michael Tapera (Mutimbanyoka, 66’), Tinotenda Meke (Rauzhi, 78’), Takunda Benhura (Mapuwa, 90+3’)
