Story by Mthokozisi Dube
The Zimbabwe national men’s football team, the Warriors, are targeting to conclude their AFCON Group J qualifiers with a win away to the Indomitable Lions in Yaoundé, Cameroon, this Tuesday.
The two sides will tussle it out in a battle for standings having both secured qualification in the prestigious continental show piece set for Morocco.
Despite having sealed qualification for the 2025 AFCON finals set for Morocco, the Warriors match against the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon is likely to decide how Group J standings will finish.
The two sides are separated by two points and have both booked slots in the AFCON finals.
Warriors head coach, Michael Nees says the game is important for his side as it determines FIFA rankings and seeding in the next tournament.
“You need to take every game seriously because that has a bearing on FIFA rankings and for me the rankings matter the most .It has consequences. It influences your seeding in the next tournament. We would want to continue with our performance,” he said.
Nees will be looking to balance between parading some players to try out new combinations and maintaining consistency.
“We have a very diverse squad and in most cases we have had issues in having training due to problems in arrival times. We will see how we can assemble a squad to match Cameroon. We have players with yellow cards, we will not risk them as accumulating another yellow will mean they miss the first game of the tournament,” he added.
The two sides played to a stalemate in the reverse fixture and a win for Zimbabwe will see them topping Group J.
Meanwhile, the Warriors, are now in Yaoundé, Cameroon, ahead of their final AFCON Group J qualifier against the Indomitable Lions set for Tuesday.
