Kampala, Uganda – The Zimbabwe Warriors on Tuesday played to a goalless draw against five time African giants Cameroon at the Mandela National Stadium in Uganda.
To a section of Warriors’ faithfuls, it arguably felt like a frustrating draw.
It comes after the Warriors performed impressively versus African giants who consists of big names like Manchester United’s goalkeeper Andre Onana and renowned striker Vincent Aboubakar.
They went toe-to-toe with these big names, and their fighting spirit displayed the hunger to win the match.
Their performance matched what new coach Michael Nees told journalists during a media briefing a day before.
Asked what he told his troops ahead of the tricky encounter against a big team with big names, in his response, Nees revealed he said they should not “feel intimidated by Cameroon” because they have played giant teams before.
“There is no reason to fear or feeling intimidated by Cameroon. Our players have played against well known players before,” said the German tactician.
Even though their ball possession (39%) was below that of Cameroon (61%), the Warriors played beautiful football.
They made 17 shoots at goal with five of those on target while Cameroon made 13 attempts with zero on target.
The impressive Warriors completed 308 passes while the Indomitable Lions made 484.
They had a pass accuracy of 83% and the visitors had 88%, showing they were comfortable on the ball and also proving they were not intimidated.
Even Nees expressed his delight in his team’s overall performance.
“It was a 0-0 of better quality. I was super satisfied. We did not sit back, our level of confidence on the ball was higher,” the 57-year-old gaffer added.
Furthermore, he admitted that: “with a bit of luck and better finishing, we could have gotten more than a point.”
The draw leaves Zimbabwe in third place in Group J of the 2025 AFCON qualifiers, with two points from two matches.
Kenya, who defeated Namibia 2-1 on the same day, currently lead the group with four points.
They are followed by Cameroon on the same number of points.
Namibia sits at the bottom of the standings.
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