Online Reporter
Robson Sharuko
Metros Editor
MICHAEL NEES is just one game away from reaching a personal milestone, 25 matches in charge of African national teams during World Cup and AFCON qualifiers.
That 25th game could come against the Pharaohs of Egypt, three days before Christmas, when the Warriors begin their 2025 AFCON finals campaign at the 45 480-seater Adrar Stadium in Agadir, Morocco.
For that to happen, though, the German must survive the storm brewing from Zimbabwe’s disastrous 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign.
A brutal post-mortem is inevitable, and it will question everything, his tactics, his selections, and his record.
Nees’ defence will likely be that he inherited a team long accustomed to underperforming in World Cup qualifiers. It’s true, Zimbabwe’s history in this competition is bleak.
Their only win in a group stage qualifier came on June 8, 2008, when Gilbert Mushangazhike struck twice in a 2–0 victory over Namibia at Rufaro.
Their only other success was a 3–1 win over Somalia at the National Sports Stadium on September 10, 2019, a playoff in which all three goals came in the last 13 minutes. Khama Billiat grabbed the aggregate winner in the final minute.
But others will argue that Nees was hired to change that narrative. That’s why he got the job ahead of local coaches, and the reality is he’s failed.
The Warriors are worse under his watch. Rwanda, who couldn’t beat Zimbabwe when Baltemar Brito was in charge, came to South Africa and won under Nees.
He might point to the draws in Uyo against Nigeria and in Durban against South Africa as signs of progress. But even Brito managed to hold the Super Eagles, and against Bafana Bafana we were lucky to escape with a point.
It’s Nees’ overall record, stretching back to his arrival in Africa in 2003, that truly raises alarms for a Warriors side desperate for a coach who can lift them. His record suggests Nees still needs to help himself before he can help others succeed in Africa’s unforgiving football jungles.
The irony is striking, after 22 years on the continent, Nees will make his AFCON finals debut this December. The Warriors will be making their sixth appearance, and Knowledge Musona his fourth.
But Nees’ numbers tell a grim story:
He has won just five of the 24 AFCON and World Cup qualifiers he’s coached since March 2003.
Two of those five wins came against the same opponent, Namibia, in this year’s AFCON qualifiers, 1–0 and 3–1.
Another was against Zimbabwe, when Nees’ Seychelles stunned the Warriors 2–1 in a 2004 AFCON qualifier on June 7, 2003.
That same year, Eritrea, a side that’s won only four AFCON qualifiers this century, beat Nees’ Seychelles 1–0 in Asmara. Eritrea remain the only FIFA member nation unranked due to inactivity.
His other wins came with Rwanda, 4–0 over Liberia and 2–0 over Equatorial Guinea.
Nees lost his first game in Africa when Seychelles fell 1–3 to Zimbabwe at the National Sports Stadium on March 30, 2003. Peter and Adam Ndlovu scored all three Warriors goals, with the Flying Elephant netting twice.
In total, Nees’ teams; Seychelles, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe have played 24 competitive qualifiers, winning five, drawing seven and losing 12.
His consistency is worrying; he rarely wins more than two games per qualifying cycle. With Seychelles he won once; with Rwanda, twice; with Zimbabwe, again just twice.
That pattern hasn’t changed in 22 years.
Across those campaigns, Nees’ teams have collected 22 points out of a possible 72, a meagre 30.5 percent return. In other words, almost 70 percent of all available points have been lost under his management.
As Zimbabwe coach, he’s earned just 12 points from 36 on offer, half of them from a single opponent, Namibia.
Scoring goals has also been a consistent problem. His Warriors have managed more than one goal in only two of their 12 matches, the 3–1 win over Namibia and a 2–2 draw with Benin. The same pattern followed him in Rwanda and Seychelles, where his teams exceeded one goal in just four of their 12 matches.
For a nation craving revival, those numbers are damning. And unless something changes fast, Nees may soon discover that Zimbabwean football’s patience, like its scoring record, has already run out.
