The Warriors might have plunged down the latest Fifa rankings but Zimbabwe international striker, Benjani Mwaruwari, believes it’s only a minor sideshow that should not distract the team in its battle

to qualify for the 2013 Nations Cup finals. Zimbabwe tumbled seven places down the global ladder, in the latest rankings released by Fifa on Wednesday, and moved out of the world’s top 100 national football teams’ club.

The Warriors’ 1-2 defeat in Bujumbura, in the first leg of their 2013 Nations Cup qualifier, hammered into their world ranking because Burundi were considered a weaker football nation than Zimbabwe.

The Warriors, who are now ranked 106th in the world and 27th in Africa, suffered the second biggest fall among teams in the Top 30 on the continent and only Sierra Leone, who fell nine places down the ladder, took a heavier knock.

Zimbabwe also suffered the fourth biggest fall, in Africa, and only Namibia (-12), Sierra Leone (-9) and Gambia (-8), took a heavier pounding during the month under review.

The Gambian government has reacted to the 1-2 home defeat against Algeria, which sank them eight places down the ladder on the continent, by dissolving the country’s football association.

Although there is now a likelihood that Gambia could be expelled from international football, for government interference in the wake of the dissolution of the Gambia Football Association, the political leadership in Banjul are unfazed by the threats of a ban.

Zimbabwe will host Burundi, in the first week of June, in the reverse fixture of the 2013 Nations Cup qualifier and, should the Warriors overturn the 1-2 deficit, they will move into the final qualifying round.

Waiting for them there, in a home-and-away showdown for a place in South Africa, could be Zambia, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Ghana, Botswana, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal, Angola, Sudan, Niger or Burkina Faso.

Six of these teams — Zambia, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Libya and Tunisia — are in the top 10 on the African rankings released on Wednesday.

Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, who hosted the 2012 Nations Cup, will battle it out in a winner-take-all two-legged match for the right to play in South Africa, with Bafana Bafana qualifying automatically as hosts.

Benjani turned down an offer to come out of international retirement to help a team decimated by the suspension of about 100 players from featuring in the away match against Burundi because they were fingered in the Asiagate match-fixing scandal.

But the Portsmouth forward, who revealed he will always be available to provide any assistance needed by the team and does not rule out a possible role in the Warriors’ technical crew in future, said the quest for the 2013 Nations Cup finals was in good health.

Benjani said although the Warriors lost in Burundi, they emerged out of that contest with a lot of credit, given the problems the coaching staff faced in assembling a team from scratch and the nightmare that plagued the players’ travel arrangements.

Therefore, said Benjani, what was important was for the Warriors to continue building on the work done in Bujumbura rather than worry about a drop in the rankings on the Fifa global ladder.

“I think for us, what is important is that we are in a very good position to knock out Burundi when they come to Zimbabwe because we got a crucial away goal and, from what I heard, we were the better team,” said Benjani.

“A good ranking is important but I don’t think, at this moment, we can lose sleep because we have dropped a couple of places down the ladder because we have more important things to take care of.

“Obviously, given what has happened to the team, the regular players who were not there in Burundi and the defeat that we suffered, it was inevitable that we would drop some places on the rankings.

“But that should not distract us from what we want to achieve because I believe, even though we lost to Burundi, we are in a very good position to qualify and I have every reason to believe that we will get the job done in Harare.

“It will be unfair, really, for people to start criticising the coach and the players because we have dropped on the rankings while forgetting what they did very well under very difficult circumstances in Burundi.”

Benjani saluted Rahman Gumbo, the Warriors’ interim coach, and his assistants — Peter Ndlovu and David Mandigora — for assembling a team that competed well in a hostile away environment, in Bujumbura, at the shortest possible notice.

“I take my hat off for Rahman and his guys in the technical team because I think they did very, very well under very difficult circumstances,” said Benjani.

“To assemble a team, in that short time and without so many players, which — from what I hear — dominated the game and were unlucky to lose, at the very last minute, deserves to be praised.

“When I read about what was happening and all the challenges the boys were facing in terms of their travel arrangements, I can tell you that I expected us to lose by a big margin.

“It’s never easy to play away from home in Africa and it’s even worse when you go in having faced the challenges that we faced before the game in Burundi.

“People say Burundi is a small football nation but things have changed and we don’t have small football countries in Africa and Niger qualified in a group that had Egypt and South Africa while Botswana topped a group that had Tunisia.

“As far as I am concerned, we need to give credit to our boys and their coaches because I think they surpassed our expectations and the good thing is that by June, a lot of issues could have been resolved, and I feel our team will be even stronger.”

Benjani said it was important for Zifa to start planning for the game against Burundi, now, and also consider the possibility that the Warriors would be playing in the final qualifying round of the journey to South Africa in 2013.

“We have a lot of time on our hands to prepare for the game in June and we should plan accordingly because I feel, if we get everything right, we have a big chance of winning that game at home in a convincing manner,” said Benjani.

“But it is also important, during our planning, to also consider the possibility that we could be playing in the next round and also plan for that because the big boys who we are likely to meet, if we make it past Burundi, need us to prepare thoroughly if we are to beat them.

“My prayer, should we win against Burundi, would be for us to avoid being paired against Cote d’Ivoire because, over two legs, they are a difficult team to eliminate.

“You can beat them in a one-off match on neutral soil, as the Zambians did, but when it comes to playing Ivory Coast in their stadium, it’s a different game altogether and the results there tell it all because visiting teams usually concede an average of five goals.

“The Ivorians are also bitter, and itching for revenge, after what happened in Gabon and they will be pumped up.

“If we avoid the Ivorians, I think we can handle any other team and compete very well against them, including Zambia, and if we are lucky, we could even be paired against either Niger or Botswana"