The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE will be seeking a perfect start at the African Nations Championship when they square off against host nation Cameroon at Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo in Yaoundé on Saturday.
The match kicks off at 18:00 Zimbabwean time.
Ahead of Saturday’s opener against Cameroon, the Zimbabwe Football Association provided an interesting statistic about the country’s opening fixtures at the Chan tournament. Zimbabwe have never won any of their opening fixtures at Chan with two draws and same number of defeats. In 2009, Zimbabwe drew their first match 2-2 with Ghana, lost 1-0 to Niger at the 2011 edition, played out a goalless draw against Morocco at the 2014 tournament before they were beaten 2-0 by Zambia in 2016.
The 2021 crop coached by Zdravko Logarušić will hope to become the first to record a win but it is certainly not an easy task against the host nation. It was not smooth sailing for the Warriors ahead of this tournament as camp was halted when 15 individuals, players and technical team members tested positive for Covid-19. The team only resumed training last Saturday.
Zimbabwe had two training sessions since their arrival in Cameroon on Thursday. On Friday, they had a feel of the match venue. Chicken Inn defender Ian Nekati will lead the Warriors at the tournament for those playing their football in their respective country’s domestic league.
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