Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. WARRIORS coach Michael Nees has shut the door on other prospective team players as he shifts focus to the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals following a chastening international break in which Zimbabwe lost two Group C World Cup qualifiers against Benin and Rwanda.
Nees has been under fire for his poor win record, which stands at just two wins from 10 competitive matches in the Afcon and World Cup qualifiers.
The German mentor has lost three matches while drawing five times.
Zimbabwe played two other friendly matches, where they lost to Burkina Faso and drew with Niger.
In the just ended international window, Zimbabwe lost 1-0 to Benin in Ivory Coast last Friday before succumbing by the same scoreline to Rwanda at Orlando Stadium in South Africa two days ago.
After the Rwanda defeat, Nees gave a damning verdict on teenage midfielder Prosper Padera and striker Thandolwenkosi Ngwenya, who played their first games for the main team after making their debuts in the developmental squad that represented the country at Cosafa Cup this year.
“We have today two young players who have graduated for the first time in the national team. We want to give players a chance, but we could also see that it is still a long way.
“The national team level is a little bit higher than some expect. And we definitely need now to reduce the group and stop trying to please everybody, to give game time or testing,” Nees said referring to Padera and Ngwenya’s performances.
Padera, who started in defensive midfield alongside captain of the day Marshall Munetsi, was hauled off at halftime, while Ngwenya played a few minutes into the second half before he was replaced by Terrence Dzvukamanja.
Reading FC versatile midfielder Tivonge Rushesha was an unused substitute in the game and will not be part of the Afcon squad if Nees’ utterances are anything to go by.
“I think there’s four games or five maybe until the Afcon. (Next we play) against South Africa, a strong, strong team. We meet them again in the Afcon finals. The teams we are facing there are not teams which will be parking the bus,” the Warriors mentor said.
“Definitely, the opponents we are facing, Egypt, South Africa, Angola, will play a little bit more open than these teams we are facing now. We must continue to work.
“We dominated against Rwanda and that’s a good sign. We can really dominate the game completely like in the second half. But, of course, the finishing, the last touch, we have to improve.”
Nees is of the view that the team missed veteran talismanic forward Khama Billiat in the defeat against Rwanda.
“If you remember when I came here, there were two players I recalled, Washington Arubi and Khama Billiat,” he said.
“There’s a lot of noise around Khama Billiat. But I think everybody understands you need players, especially when the space gets tighter and tighter, who can make a difference in such situations.
“So what must he do? Continue to work and sometimes you must break this vicious circle that things go against you and force luck. And then it will come back to you. At the moment, luck is not on our side, I can say.”
Zimbabwe will complete the disappointing World Cup qualification cycle next month against South Africa and Lesotho, as they fine-tune for the Afcon finals.
Munetsi believes the country has a strong team that is progressing well.
“I do think that we have a strong team, but we need to work on the finishing upfront,” he said.
“I think we created a lot of chances and in the second, we were pushing for win against Rwanda.
“Now our target is to prepare ourselves for the Afcon finals because we can no longer qualify for the World Cup.”
Added Munetsi: “Hopefully, most of our guys will be having game time at their clubs because this affected us.
“If you check in the game against Benin, most of the guys lacked match fitness. In the second, the travelling was also a little bit complicated.
“In all aspects, we can be proud of how we are progressing as a team.”
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