Off the pitch: Zimbabweans, Ugandans square off on social media counting down to the match

ZwNews.com

It all started with the Ugandan coach Sebastien Desabre who few months ago mocked Zimbabwe’s Warriors as the group’s weeping boys, the case of a mind some would say, while his opposite number, Warriors’ coach Suday Chidzambwa, opted for diplomacy saying he will play his game plan to win.

Now the twitter war has escalated.

And only a day before the match, the Ugandan captain Denis Onyongo who plays football for Mamelodi Sundowns in South Africa, where most Zimbabwean players are plying their trade, said he will use his knowledge of their weaknesses to defeat them (Warriors).

Oyongo said he will instruct his teammates on how to keep at bay, or to stop Warriors talisman Khama Billiat, whom he once played alongside at Mamelodi Sundowns.

Meanwhile, just like his coach, Warriors’s captain Knowledge Musona also chose diplomacy, opting to just concentrate more on rallying his troops, despite the underdog tag his opponents pasting on his team.

However, football as fascinating as it is, one football legend once called (football) the world’s most beautiful game, calling fans the owners of the game.

Be that as it may, the owners of the game have not been spared in the mind game, a fierce war has been booked on social media putting the two nations, with Zimbabwean seemingly on the receiving end. Ugandans mocking Zimbabwe for its struggling economy in the process.

One Ugandan supporter by the name Jon Snow twitted; “We can’t lose to people who can’t even draw a bird, or what ever it is.” The supporter was mocking the Zimbabwe bird symbol on the national flag.

Another Ugandan supporter Faisal weighted in saying nobody would want to lose to a nation in an inflationary mode, where you need millions to buy bread.

Shocked by the silence from the Zimbabwean side of the war, another Ugandan supporter Nandira Jessy, just like the Biblical Goliath, who dared the Israelites to war before being put to the sword by David. Jessy dared Zimbabweans to come to the war.

“Any Zimbabweans on twitter?” Asked Jessy, after other Ugandan had suggestively said the silence by the Zimbabweans could be a sign that they do not know what twitter is.

The Zimbabweans seemingly declined to be drawn into a war of words. Probably to do the talking in the field of play.

One Zimbabwean supporter Duduzile Nyirongo implored her team ‘Warriors’ to punish the talkertive Ugandans when the two teams meet in the field of play this evening.

“Warriors you must win that Uganda match on Wednesday. We have scores to settle,” she twitted.

The Cranes of Uganda won their first match against the Democratic Republic of Congo, while the Warriors narrowly lost to the hosts, the Pharoahs of Egypt by a goal to nil. The Warriors were punished for a defensive mistake, after having had played quite well.

For some, sometimes football can be cruel in that the team displaying good play may end up being losers, in other cases mind games have been used. However, that being the case and all been said and done, soccer matches are won in the field of play. The team with a good mental stamina, resiliance, composure, despite mind games have been used or not, always wins the game.

To the players out there in Egypt, be informed that battle lines have been drawn, it’s now game on. Good luck!