Online Reporter
Tadious Manyepo, Zimpapers Sports Hub
WARRIORS coach Ramon Catala said he wants to hit the ground running when he takes charge of his first game for Zimbabwe against Sierra Leone in Morocco this evening.
The 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier fixture gets underway at 6PM.
It is the first time that the Spanish gaffer, appointed only last month, will be in the dugout for the Warriors.
He knows that a lot is expected of him especially given that Zimbabwe haven’t found it difficult to qualify for the Afcon finals.
They are in Group E of the qualifiers alongside DRC, Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone.
The Afcon finals will be co-hosted by Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania next year.
But the journey begins today with the Warriors looking to kickstart the chase for what will be their seventh appearance at the Afcon finals.
And Catala said he and his boys are pumped up for the challenge.
“It will be a very difficult match. They (Sierra Leone) have a team with good players, similar to ours. We are however going there with the motivation to start the competition well and to put in a very good performance,” said Catala.
“The atmosphere is phenomenal. The players are great professionals and they have a lot of hunger to play in these matches and to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations. It’s a good atmosphere and we have good players.
“The pitch is in very good condition. We want to thank Raja Casablanca for hosting us and for allowing us to train at their facility. The facilities are perfect for us to have our sessions here in Casablanca.”
Catala added: “We want the fans to be proud of their team. We are going to give everything to try and win the first match.
“Sierra Leone is a good team but we are certainly up for them.
“We are really excited and looking forward to the game against Sierra Leone.”
Catala called back Andy Rinomhota who makes his emotional return to Morocco after withdrawing from the Afcon tournament held in the same country last December due to personal reasons.
An excited Rinomhota yesterday said: “Yeah, it feels really good to be back. It does feel like a long time I’ve been away, maybe three camps I’ve missed now.
“I am really happy to be back, looking forward to the games ahead and just looking forward to try and get a good start in these qualification games. The camaraderie is really good between the squad. The relationship between the coaches and the players is very good and I think we’ve changed squads a little bit before.
“I think everyone comes in and gels really quickly, and you can see that with the way we have been training on the pitch, and we hope to take that connection into the game as well.
“We know we need to go into these games with the right mindset to make sure we start on the front foot and get off to a good position in the group.
So we’re not gonna take any games lightly and like I said, everyone’s moving in the right direction to try and give their all and get off to a good start to make our country proud.”
The showdown comes at a time when Zimbabwe have some of the most exciting attacking players like Tawanda Maswanhise, Tawanda Chirewa, Bill Antonio and Thando Ngwenya.
Sierra Leone are ranked 122nd by FIFA, eight places above Zimbabwe and Rinomhota said all that doesn’t matter when they face off today.
Zimbabwe will play DRC in their next game at the National Sports Stadium next Monday while the other team in Group E; Equatorial Guinea welcomes Sierra Leone on the same day.
The top two teams from the group will qualify for the 2027 Afcon finals.
