adminEddie Chikamhi Sports Reporter
BIG forward Francisco Zekumbawira says Zimbabwe will need to do more at the Africa Nations Championship in Rwanda as the Warriors have positioned themselves as one of the teams to beat following their good performance at the previous edition.
Zimbabwe finished fourth at the last tournament held in South Africa.
They were the seeded team in Group D for this year’s competition and they will meet neighbours Zambia, Uganda and Mali.
This appears a fair draw as they avoided most of the continental giants that will be taking part at the fourth edition of this tournament reserved exclusively for locally-based players.
Zekumbawira, who is still to make his mark with the senior team, yesterday said he was hoping to be among the players who will make the cut as coach Callisto Pasuwa makes his announcement either today or tomorrow.
But whether he will go or not, the Harare City forward yesterday said the current crop of Warriors need to maintain the standards set by their predecessors who finished fourth at the CHAN tournament that was hosted by South Africa in 2014.
The Warriors have been to every tournament of the CHAN finals but in three occasions they failed to go past the group stage. “The team that represented Zimbabwe at the last CHAN reached the semi-finals, which was a very good position, so we have to continue from where they left and probably try to improve.
“It’s a difficult group but we are not a team to be underrated. Obviously all our opponents know that we are a big threat in this group. So it only means we have to go there, work hard and hope for the best. But the bottom line is we respect all the teams in our group and we are going to take the same approach in every game.
“Overall, this is a chance for the locally based players to show that they are capable of representing the country well at the international stage, the same which happened at the last CHAN,” said Zekumbawira.
Online Reporter