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ZIMBABWE will have a chance to improve on their Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals record in Morocco next year after securing a ticket to the tournament for the sixth time at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, South Africa, on Friday night.
This article discusses how that feat was achieved and what needs to be done to maintain the momentum going into the future.
A nervy 1-1 draw against the gangly Harambee Stars of Kenya was enough to take Michael Nees’ Warriors beyond the reach of their opponents in the race for Group J’s remaining ticket for the finals after leaders Cameroon had secured theirs last month.
Nees became the first foreign coach to take Zimbabwe to the AFCON finals, succeeding where many big names failed and these include German compatriots Reinhard Fabisch and Rudi Gutendorf, Ian Porterfield, Clemens Westerhof, Tom Saintfiet, Klaus Dieter Pagels and Zdravko Logarusic.
MAN OF THE MOMENT . . . Zimbabwe’s Tawanda Maswanhise celebrates in style after scoring Zimbabwe’s qualification goal during Friday’s one-all draw against Kenya. — Pictures: CafOnline
The previous five AFCON appearances for the Warriors were under Zimbabwean coaches — Sunday “Mhofu” Chidzambwa (2004 and 2019), Charles Mhlauri (2006), Kalisto Pasuwa (2017) and Norman Mapeza (2021).
An unbeaten run of four matches gave the Warriors an advantage of taking on their bogey opponents without the need to win in the battle for the remaining ticket.
The permutations after the October matches were such that Zimbabwe needed a point from the remaining two matches to progress.
It was not an easy task for the Warriors as history did not favour them.
Zimbabwe had not beaten Kenya in AFCON qualifiers, while overall, they managed just one victory in 13 matches, with that odd success coming way back in the 1985 Cecafa Cup final.
The final qualifier away to Cameroon was also tipped heavily in the favour of the Indomitable Lions, who are unbeaten at home to the Warriors in their 12-match head-to-head record stretching back to October 1980.
Zimbabwe have three home wins against Cameroon, including the sensational 4-1 thumping at the National Sports Stadium on January 22 in 1995 when Vitalis Takawira grabbed a hat trick in a 1996 AFCON qualifier.
On paper, the Warriors had a mountain to climb.
However, with Kenya having lost one of their qualifiers against Cameroon it meant Zimbabwe simply needed to avoid defeat against the Harambee Stars after back-to-back victories against Namibia at the Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg in October.
And they did just that with Friday’s 1-1 draw in Polokwane, which renders Tuesday’s match away to Cameroon academic, with the only battle at stake being the final ranking in the group.
It probably allows both sets of coaches to give their fringe players some game time and allow those, especially from the taxing European leagues, to rest or return to their bases early.
Zimbabwe’s qualification to the 2025 AFCON finals is remarkable in many ways and is a reason for major celebrations by the many football fans who rally behind the Warriors.
When the draw for the qualifiers was conducted at the beginning of July this year, Zimbabwe were the bottom-ranked member of the group, with Cameroon, ranked eighth in Africa and 49th in the world, the top seeds, followed by Namibia, who were 22nd in Africa and 97th in the world.
Kenya were ranked 25th in Africa and 108th in the world, with Zimbabwe, who were celebrating a year after readmission to international football by FIFA, lowest ranked in the group, 38th on the continent and 129th globally.
What made Zimbabwe’s plight worse was how the ZIFA Normalisation Committee was treating the national teams.
In an interview towards the expiry of their one-year tenure, which was later extended to January 2025, ZIFA NC chairperson Lincoln Mutasa said the national team was not their priority as they preferred putting structures in place to revive the game from the grassroots.
And the manner they had handled the appointment of coaches for the Warriors between September 2023 and June 2024 dampened any hopes heading into the draw for the 2025 AFCON qualifiers.
And when they settled for “little-known” Nees, it seemed as if the Warriors were headed for another chaotic campaign.
However, the developments at the ZIFA NC, where Mutasa was retained while two members were axed in an extension of the tenure, seemed to come with a change of approach.
Mutasa was tasked to focus on the ZIFA constitution and elections, while the rest of the responsibilities were given to the secretariat headed by chief executive officer Yvonne Mapika Manwa.
As Nees came into office, the ZIFA NC had their wings clipped by their FIFA bosses and this can be credited for the positive changes to the Warriors’ fortunes.
While the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign was marred by fallouts among the ZIFA NC, coaches and players, the qualifiers for the 2025 AFCON have been the complete opposite such that the only ugly scene was the fallout between Nees and star player Tawanda Chirewa during the opening matches in Uganda.
To critics, the smooth running of the five 2025 AFCON qualifiers so far suggests the ZIFA NC were too meddlesome in the previous Warriors matches under coaches Baltemar Britto, Norman Mapeza and Jairosi Tapera. The jury is still out!
The crucial lesson has been that the success of the ZIFA leadership is measured by the performance of the national teams, and their positive results on the field of play trigger interest all the way from the grassroots to the supporters.
Equally important is to give the coach everything he requires.
So far, the impression we have is that Nees has been getting support from key stakeholders and this has contributed to the positive results.
He was supported when he started his tenure by getting former Warriors captain Khama Billiat out of international retirement and have him feature in all the five qualifiers.
Billiat scored the match-winner in the “away” fixture against Namibia and then provided an assist in Friday’s 1-1 draw against Kenya, among other key contributions. It was one good call by Nees which yielded the desired results.
The Warriors have qualified for the finals with two wins and three draws, scoring five goals in three matches, while firing blanks in goalless draws against Kenya and Cameroon.
That suggests a cautious approach by the coach when faced with supposed superior opposition.
However, tournament football requires attacking flair if the Warriors are to go beyond the opening round at the AFCON finals for the first time in history.
Nees has a year to work on his offensive play and the advantage is that there is a crop of young forwards emerging from better leagues, including Chirewa and now Tawanda Maswanhise, who is doing very well in the Scottish Premier League and was on target against Kenya on Friday.
A tight calendar has deprived Nees of international friendlies and this has limited his options, an area he will now work on after securing the ticket to Morocco.
He might now use the remaining 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers to look at the other options for the AFCON finals at the end of next year.
There needs to be a succession plan to take care of the likes of Billiat, goalkeeper Washington Arubi and other veterans.
How Nees will fuse experience and young talent will determine how far the Warriors will progress at the 2025 AFCON finals and, hopefully, the new ZIFA leadership to be ushered into office in January will give the coach maximum support.
The new ZIFA leadership should also not entertain the creation of “cartels” that purport to scout for talent in Europe, especially the United Kingdom.
The identification of talent for the national teams should remain a preserve of the technical director’s department and cannot be outsourced to groups or individuals taking advantage of their location.
Not only do they undermine the coaches, they also fuel corruption around national team selection.
Finally, as Nees and his Warriors seem to be moving in the right direction, the challenge is now back to the authorities to get at least one stadium certified for international matches, as the use of foreign venues for crucial qualifiers has been a regrettable experience.
The Warriors were fortunate to be in a group in which only Cameroon enjoyed home advantage, while Kenya and Namibia were also homeless.
