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Curtworth Masango
THE Warriors may still be searching for their first win in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign, but they have been credited by Cameroon’s coach Marc Brys for their brave show against the Indomitable Lions.
Zimbabwe held former African champions Cameroon to a goalless draw in a Group J fixture at Mandela National Stadium in Kampala, Uganda on Tuesday.
With a bit of luck and some clinical finishing, the Warriors could have registered a rare win over Cameroon.
Brys may have been on the opposing end of Warriors gaffer Michael Nees in the dugouts but he reserved some credit to Zimbabwe and conceded that for being the better team on the night.
“The team can’t win every game . . . to be more realistic but every big team also has moments they play badly and it was ours today,” Brys said.
Indomitable Lions skipper and veteran striker Vincent Aboubakar was kept at bay by the Warriors defence and hardly had a sniff at Washington Aribi’s goal.
Although they were put on the back foot by Zimbabwe for much of the game, Cameroon enjoyed greater support from the terraces, with the Ugandan fans choosing to go with the Indomitable Lions, largely due to the presence of their Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana.
“There is a great pleasure for the entire team to have a player of Andre Onana’s calibre.
“It was overwhelming to come into a fellow African country and earn this huge support.
“As a team, we are grateful for this support and when we play Kenya will be looking forward to enjoying this atmosphere again,” Abubakar said.
At first sight, one could have been mistaken to think that the Warriors were playing against Manchester United and not Cameroon in Uganda.
The majority of the fans in the stadium wore the Manchester United red and waved banners that celebrated Cameroon’s number one Onana because he is also the English Premiership giants’ first choice.
Onana was a major centre of attraction in the game.
However, the Warriors were not fazed by his high-profile status.
A solid display by Nees’ men was enough to earn them a crucial point with Khama Billiat also doing well to steal the show from the Indomitable Lions.
Billiat almost gave Zimbabwe the breakthrough they yearned for after four minutes but the Yadah star dragged his shot wide.
Walter Musona was also guilty of missing the target in the eighth minute.
By half-time some Uganda neutrals in the terraces had been convinced that the Warriors would not be mere pushovers.
Zimbabwe executed their duties defensively and offensively to the satisfaction of their coach Nees.
The optimism of breaking the deadlock was kept alive as both Douglas Mapfumo and Prince Dube came close in the 55th and 58th minutes only to be denied by an alert Onana.
As the game cantered towards its end, the Warriors then chose to sit back and manage the contest out in the final 10 minutes.
Nees said they were not bothered by the fact that they were outnumbered in the terraces.
“It was a really good crowd in the stadium. It’s not always each time you have the fans on your side.
“But if you are a football player you should be able to hold it and our boys did so,” Nees said.
Online Reporter