Jaure eyes Chan bronze MEMBER-IN-CHARGE . . . Warriors skipper Partson Jaure (left) clears his lines despite the close challenge of Libya’s Abdelrahman Fetori
MEMBER-IN-CHARGE . . . Warriors skipper Partson Jaure (left) clears his lines despite the close challenge of Libya’s Abdelrahman Fetori

MEMBER-IN-CHARGE . . . Warriors skipper Partson Jaure (left) clears his lines despite the close challenge of Libya’s Abdelrahman Fetori

From Lawrence Moyo in CAPE TOWN, South Africa
WARRIORS captain, Partson Jaure, wants to clinch the bronze medal as the 2014 Chan tournament concludes at the Cape Town Stadium here today.
Jaure is part of the Warriors’ solid defence, which has been breached only once in five games.
However, they face a Nigeria side that revolves around attacking football and the Jaure-led defence might have a torrid afternoon today.
The Warriors have to win and dilute the dominance by West and North African teams as the final pits Libya (North Africa) against Ghana (West Africa) while Nigeria are from West Africa.

Zimbabwe are the only representative from Southern Africa still left in the tournament.
“We have to fight to the end. We have what it takes to beat Nigeria and we have to play to the best of our ability and play for each other.
“We are not even looking at individual players from Nigeria, we approach this game as a team and we will face them as a team, not individuals.

“It means we should be there for each other in defence such that when one is beaten, he gets immediate cover from a teammate. That is how we will approach the game against Nigeria.

“They are a good side but the game has to be decided on the field,” said Jaure.
He still does not believe that they have to curtain-raise the Chan final today.

“We missed out on a big game on Wednesday but I guess its fate. We were not meant to be in the final and that is why Libya are in there.
“The problem is that although we played well, we allowed ourselves to be influenced by Libya’s style of defensive play.

“We abandoned our own play and started reacting to what the Libyans did and in the end we lost out, we should have been shooting from a distance and also find ways of penetrating their defence. We were then punished for failing to beat them in regulation time.”

The Dynamos defender rates the quarter-final game against Mali as the toughest he has played in this year’s tournament.
It is the game the Warriors’ defence was breached for the only time so far.

“That was the toughest game. Mali have big, physical players who do everything to win the ball. We had a torrid time dealing with the physical aspect of their game.

“And when they scored that goal, I believe we were now tired as defenders.
“Because we were now tired after running a lot, we went to sleep and they  benefited from loose marking, which we have to guard against when we play against Nigeria.”

Looking at all the five matches played so far, Jaure believes the one against Libya was by far the easiest.
“We played very well in the first games against Morocco and Uganda but the problem is that we did not score goals. Against Mali we also played very well save for the moment we allowed them to score that one goal.

“The game against Libya was by far the easiest but sadly that’s the one we failed to win when it mattered most. We were never taken to task and our problem was more with the pitch.

“From a distance, the Free State Stadium looks very good but it is actually bumpy and our plight was worsened by the rains that fell.
“They complicated passing in a way and it is one of the reasons we could not get that final pass right.”

With height issues making him an unattractive choice for central defence as far as foreign teams are concerned, Jaure is looking forward to the African Champions League campaign which he is eligible to feature in.

He has to serve a lengthy ban in the domestic Premiership for charging at the referee in their match against Highlanders at Barbourfields towards the end of last  season.

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