Zimpapers Logo

Grace Chingoma, Harare Bureau

AS the Africa Cup of Nations action gets nearer with the draw set for this Friday, the Warriors technical team yesterday left for Egypt to get on with some early preparations for the continental jamboree which begins in June.        

Warriors coach Sunday Chidzambwa and manager Wellington Mpandare left for the North African country yesterday where they are scheduled to attend a series of induction courses beginning tomorrow.

All the 24 teams that will participate at the Afcon tournament will be in Egypt this week with a series of events, which will culminate in inspection of hotels and facilities for the group stage after the teams have been revealed after the draw.  

Mpandare said the national team was unfazed that they are going into the hat as one of the lowest ranked teams. According to the latest rankings, the Warriors are outside the top 100 sitting on position 110 and a placing of 26th on the continent.                    

“We will not worry about rankings, we entered the qualifiers ranked very low and we surprised our opponents. And playing against the so called big teams again, if we beat them we will improve our rankings. So we are going to Egypt to improve our rankings and maybe go beyond the group stages. 

“We have gone there (at Nations Cup finals) three times but this time around we need to do better and go beyond the group stages. So we are not under any pressure at all. I am sure all the teams fear playing against Zimbabwe, so yeah the boys are motivated, we are all motivated, we will do well at the African Cup of Nations,” said Mpandare.

This year’s edition will be interesting following the enlargement of the biannual tournament from 16 teams to 24. 

Two teams will progress from the group stages and will be joined by the best four runners-up. 

Zimbabwe are likely to meet the powerhouses of African football such as Senegal after the big teams were separated last week. 

But speaking before departure, Mpandare said the trends of African football have changed.                  

“There is no so-called big team in Africa. If you look at our group (Afcon qualifiers), DRC was third ranked in Africa, Congo Brazzaville ranked above us and the only team that was below us was Liberia, but we managed to get four points from DRC and Congo and three points from Liberia so there is no small team. 

“If we could get four points from DRC this shows we are no pushovers we are a serious team and don’t fear any team. We will welcome any team drawn against us,” Mpandare said.