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Sikhumbuzo Moyo in Cairo, Egypt 

WARRIORS’ striker Knox Mutizwa believes once they navigate their way from the forest of the Total Africa Cup of Nations Group A jungle, they will be an unstoppable force in this tournament.

Speaking after Saturday evening’s training session at the El sekka-el hadid SC Stadium here, the former Highlanders hitman said their biggest hurdles are the group games where they have already played and lost to hosts Egypt, with the next encounter against Uganda coming on Wednesday before they wrap up their round robin group matches against DR Congo.

“We are determined to become the first group of Warriors to sail through to the knockout stages of the tournament. The spirit in camp is amazing while the belief is just superb. I know the whole nation is behind us and once we come out of these group games, then I can assure Zimbabwe that they will witness the unstoppable force of this band of Warriors,” said Mutizwa, who now turns out for Golden Arrows in South Africa.

He said they have put aside their loss to Egypt on Friday night and are now firmly focused on the next encounter against Uganda, who stunned DRC 2-0 on Saturday.

“The loss is behind us now, we don’t want to think backwards as that will derail us from our journey. If we go with the same spirit that we exhibited against Egypt, I don’t see anything stopping us, but this is not to undermine or underrate our opponents,” said Mutizwa.

He said the amount of energy and oneness in camp was awesome and they keep on telling themselves that nothing is impossible.

“We are aware that history lies before us, that of becoming the first team of Warriors to get into the knockout stages of this tournament and we are so eager. I believe if we go through to the knockout stages, then our dream would have become a reality and we won’t look back.”

During Saturday evening’s training, one could feel the eagerness of the boys to impress coach Sunday Chidzambwa and his two assistants Rahman Gumbo and Lloyd Mutasa to be picked for the Wednesday encounter.

“Football is unpredictable, but we are so confident that we will win the remaining two games. We don’t want to start looking at permutations and hoping this team wins by such a margin, no, we want to be masters of our own destiny,” said Mutizwa.