Online Reporter
THE Warriors had a winless two-match run over the March international break as they remained bottom of Group C in the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifying campaign.
A 2-2 draw against Benin in Durban, South Africa was followed by a 1-1 draw away to Nigeria and in both matches the Warriors came from behind to snatch draws.
The two draws meant that Zimbabwe remain the only team in the group without a win and it also meant that the Warriors missed out on the US$150 000 they had been promised by President Mnangagwa per match if they had won.
These were the first World Cup qualifying matches for the Warriors under German coach, Michael Nees, who became the third mentor in the campaign and Baltemar Britto and Jairos Tapera.
All three have two matches each with Nees and Britto settling for draws while Tapera lost to Lesotho and South Africa.
The winless campaign means that the success in the 2025 AFCON qualifying campaign might not be enough to help the Warriors put up a good show at the finals in Morocco at the end of the year.
The World Cup is every footballer’s dream and performances in the tournament, be it the qualifiers or finals, are rated better than the other tournaments, like the AFCON.
As such, a winless campaign in the World Cup qualifiers erodes all the good things achieved in the brisk AFCON qualifiers under Nees.
Looking at the performances against Benin and Nigeria, the Warriors showed signs of a team with potential to cause upsets at the AFCON finals.
However, the lack of killer instinct played a bigger part in the failure to win either match despite having better opportunities in the later stages of the games.
Defensive blunders were at play in the Benin game and that the Warriors came back from a two-goal deficit was cheered by the fans that went to the Moses Mabhida Stadium, but the bigger picture was that there was no killer punch.
It was the same scenario against Nigeria as the Warriors struggled early on and conceded a goal that nearly became decisive.
However, super sub Tawanda Chirewa rescued the game for the Warriors, hurt the Nigerians and cheered neighbouring South Africa who are now firm favourites to clinch the group.
Veteran Knowledge Musona salvaged the draw against Benin while the younger Chirewa silenced Nigeria, adding to the confusion amongst Warriors fans battling to decide whether the old horse in the team should start or be late substitutes.
There are still a number of areas that need to be polished or finalised in time for the AFCON finals and that means Nees, and his bosses need to come up with a plan to strategise for the Morocco finals.
