admin
Sports Writer
ZIMBABWE have already secured qualification for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations but coach Michael Nees is not treating their final Group J match against Cameroon any differently.
Both the Warriors and Indomitable Lions have booked their tickets to the biggest international football tournament on the continent to be staged in Morocco next year rendering their duel at the Ahmadou Ahidjo in Yaounde on Tuesday academic.
But Warriors Germany gaffer isn’t seeing things that way.
In only his first three months in charge of the Warriors, Nees has become the second foreign coach to guide Zimbabwe to the
AFCON finals after Croat Zdravko Logarusic did that in 2021.
Undefeated in five tough qualification games in a group that also has Namibia and Kenya, the former Rwanda mentor is not only looking at finishing the campaign without a loss but he is eyeing at more than just that.
The Warriors played out a 1-1 draw against Kenya, a result they needed to seal their journey to Morocco at the Peter Mokaba
Stadium in Polokwane, South Africa last Friday.
Cameroon, who progressed to the fiesta with two matches to spare, have 11 points, two ahead of second-placed Zimbabwe ahead of the two teams’ face-off.
Zimbabwe have thinned out a bit after France-based midfielder Marshal Munetsi was handed a compassionate leave while defender Gerald Takwara has also been knocked out the game due to a shoulder injury he suffered on Friday.
No replacement has been called in to fill those spaces and Nees could throw in some of the players who have not been playing like goalkeeper Marley Tavaziva and Emmanuel Jalai.
The Warriors qualified for the tournament following a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Kenya in Group J on Friday, finishing the campaign with nine points and a comfortable four-point lead over third-placed Harambee Stars, with only one match remaining.
Meanwhile, Warriors defender Takwara was on Monday set to undergo operation on his shoulder in Johannesburg.
Takwara is expected to be out for four to six weeks.
The defender suffered an injury during Friday’s 2025 AFCON qualifier against Kenya at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane.
The injury was sustained when Takwara attempted a very low header to clear a shot at goal by the Kenyans, who grabbed their equaliser in the melee.
He was stretchered off with Godknows Murwira taking over.
Takwara will not travel to Cameroon with the rest of the team for Tuesday’s final qualifier.
Instead, he will travel direct to his base after today’s operation.
Online Reporter