Story by Lawrence Trusida

WARRIORS Coach Baltermar Brito and Captain Marvelous Nakamba are looking forward to the future with hope after Zimbabwe’s fairly good start in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.

It was a goal worth winning a match and it will not be a surprise if it makes it for the FIFA Puskas Award which recognises the best goals scored across the globe.

The goal epitomised the new era under Coach Baltermar Brito who has been given the task to lead the Warriors on their return to international football after an 18-month suspension by FIFA.

Never mind the fact that the Warriors have two points from two matches, it was the impressive performance against Nigeria that has given the nation hope that Brito has something to build on.

Just like in their first competitive match under Brito against Rwanda last week, the game against African Giants Nigeria was a reflection of everything good that has happened so far with the Warriors solid in defence and coming up with some neat build-up play.

While they clearly lack the cutting edge upfront, there are several positives from the two matches with Head Coach Baltermar Brito giving credit to the players for a positive attitude.

“There was a lot of mutual respect between us the technical team, the players and even the committee, there were no messages behind the back all the payers wanted was to perform and they did that they gave a good performance, we have a solid base to build upon for the future, we cannot relax now because we draw with giants now we need to continue working and get more friendlies for the process to start yielding results.”

Captain Marvelous Nakamba believes the team should be kept together.

“Now we have started a new thing the important thing is for the team to stick together, we continue to work as a group and get to play more matches together to be better.”

Walter Musona who scored his first international goal for the Warriors against Nigeria believes they should have more friendly matches to gel as a team.

“The performance was good for a team that just got together, we did well but we should have more matches going forward.”

The Warriors are on two points in Group C led by South Africa who have three points.

The next World Cup Qualifiers will be in June next year.