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Fungai Muderere, Senior Sports Reporter
THE Warriors will kick off their 2025 Afcon qualifying campaign with an away fixture against Kenya that will be played in September.
Jairos Tapera’s men were last Thursday drawn into Group J of the 2025 Total Energies CAF Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers with Kenya, Cameroon, and Namibia.
The draw was conducted in Johannesburg, South Africa. After taking on Kenya, Zimbabwe will battle against giants Cameroon in another fixture that will be played in September. Zimbabwe’s third match of the campaign will be against Namibia before playing host to the same opponents in back-to-back fixtures that will take place between October 7 and 15.
Between November 11 and 19, the Warriors will face Kenya at home before taking on Cameroon in their backyard.
Tapera, who last Tuesday watched his Warriors being booted out of the Cosafa Cup contest by Kenya, has insisted on the need for ideal preparations. “There should be no short-cuts. It all needs a collective effort, it’s a national team and everyone should play his part. Preparations are the core. “It’s a fairly good draw, it all depends on having enough time to prepare. That’s the basis of everything.
Given the opportunity we will have to start our preparations today,” said Tapera. Former Warriors gaffer Joey Antipas reckoned: “We are in a tough group. We will need to work around the clock. We can get it right against Kenya and Namibia. Cameroon are a difficult team, and as such we will need to summon all our energies. “It’s unfortunate that we are not going to enjoy home advantage as we do not have stadia to host international matches. However, it’s all the best to those who are going to represent us and we should seek to guard against dropping points home and away.” Ex-Highlanders defender Lawson Nkomo also underscored that the Warriors will need to guard against dropping points. “I think Cameroon will be tricky customers for us but we should make sure that we win against Cameroon at home and go on to fight for maximum points against Kenya and Namibia. We have always dominated Kenya and Namibia and everything being equal we should beat them home and away.”
Fixtures
September 2 to 10
MD1. Kenya vs Zimbabwe
MD2. Zimbabwe vs Cameroon
October 7 to 15
MD3. Namibia vs Zimbabwe
MD4. Zimbabwe vs Namibia
November 11 to 19
MD5. Zimbabwe vs Kenya
MD6. Cameroon vs Zimbabwe
Online Reporter