Online Reporter
Tadious Manyepo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
WARRIORS captain, Marvelous Nakamba, says getting to finally play in front of their home crowd, after seven years, is a celebration that has to be capped with a win.
Zimbabwe host DRC in a 2027 AFCON qualifier at the National Sports Stadium this evening.
The Warriors last played a home game, with fans cheering them on, on March 24, 2019, when they sealed their place at the 2019 AFCON with a 2-0 win over Congo-Brazzaville.
The Warriors did play more games at the National Sports Stadium after that, against Botswana, Zambia, Ghana, South Africa and Ethiopia in both AFCON and World Cup qualifiers in 2020 and 2021 but a limited number of fans were allowed to watch those ties due to COVID-19 protocols.
The facility was then banished by CAF for failing to meet minimum required standards and the national team have been playing home games away from home for the past five years.
And the excitement building up to this evening’s game is unmistakable for a nation that had grown accustomed to watching their beloved Warriors from afar.
Several gems like Tawanda Chirewa and Tawanda Maswanhise have never played a match on home soil and for them, just like for the fans, this is a special moment.
Zimbabwe are stepping into the second Group E qualifier showdown only four days after staging their greatest comeback story in history, overturning a 2-0 halftime deficit to beat Sierra Leone 3-2 in Morocco.
The Warriors are joint top of the group with their opponents this evening who are however leading the race on goal difference.
While a win for the Warriors won’t guarantee them a place at the 2027 AFCON finals to be jointly hosted by Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, it will be significant in the context of the qualifiers where the top two teams, out of four, will secure their tickets to East Africa.
And, it will be fitting for the occasion, which will officially mark the return of the stadium into the international football arena after a massive facelift where approximately 31,008 bucket seats were installed along with electronic turnstiles and other amenities fixed.
Of course, Premier Soccer League side Scottland auditioned the facility when they hosted Eswatini champions Nsingizini Hotspurs in the CAF Champions League a fortnight ago but the grand opening will involve the Warriors.
“We know for sure that the match against DRC is a pure celebration and, then, it’s also competition,” said Nakamba.
“As players, we are very excited to play in front of our home fans. I think it’s good for everyone. The players are buzzing in camp.
“So, most of us, I think we’ve played there before but we have a lot of new players who haven’t played before at the National Sports Stadium, in front of our own fans.
“I think it will be really a good match and so, against a good opponent, I mean the DRC, coming from the World Cup, where they captured the imagination of the whole world.
“That means one thing. We don’t have to fully soak ourselves into the celebrations because we need to work hard to sort of put the icing on the cake by winning the match against DRC.
“What we have to do is only to focus on ourselves, to believe in ourselves.”
DRC beat Equatorial Guinea 2-0 in their opening game without really engaging the second gear but they certainly know Zimbabwe is not a good hunting ground after the Warriors squeezed four points from them the last time they were in the same qualification group for the 2019 AFCON.
But, Nakamba knows just how tough DRC are after their recent resurgence that culminated into their strong showing at the 2025 AFCON finals and the 2026 World Cup.
“We need to really focus on ourselves,” added Nakamba.
