Cairo hero Sawu’s advice to Warriors

WARRIORS legend Agent “Ajira” Sawu says Sunday Chidzambwa’s men should brace for a hostile and intimidating reception in their 2019 AFCON opener against Egypt at Cairo International Stadium on June 21.

However, Sawu — a goalscorer of note during the Warriors’ Dream Team era under German coach Reinhard Fabisch — believes with the right frame of mind, the current crop of players could post a famous result against the record seven-time African champions.

Sawu yesterday went down memory lane to that unforgettable visit to Egypt before a 120 000-strong crowd in 1993, where he scored the match opener inside the first five minutes in an ill-fated encounter.

The result of the match, a 2-1 win for the hosts, was later nullified by FIFA after ugly scenes of crowd trouble. The Warriors made the most of the replay and knocked the Egyptians out of the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifiers following a 0-0 stalemate at a new neutral venue in Lyon, France. Captain Knowledge Musona and his men, Sawu said, should not be intimidated by the Pharaohs’ history, but rather draw inspiration from the fact that the Warriors — in the Dream Team era — once erected a barrier which the Egyptians found too high to scale.