Zimbabwe head coach Michael Nees - Photo Zimbabwe FA.
Zimbabwe coach Michael Nees has admitted having a lot of respect for Kenya but stressed that their main objective is to seal a ticket to the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) to be held in Morocco.
The Warriors are in a good position to qualify as they sit second in Group J with eight points, three less Cameroon, who have already qualified despite their 0-0 draw against Namibia at Orlando Stadium in South Africa on Wednesday.
Zimbabwe and Kenya will face off at Peter Makoba Stadium in Polokwane City on Friday, and speaking ahead of the crunch matchday five fixture, Nees said his side was focused to fight and get the other remaining ticket in the group.
“Everybody knows what is at stake, it is an important game for Kenya, it is a decisive game for us Zimbabwe, a very important game because we are in a very good position (to qualify) but we also know how football is, you cannot predict the result, you can only plan and work on your performance and with a good performance a positive result is very likely,” said Nees.
“So far our preparations was a little bit tampered with rain, not too much as we have some quite good conditions where we staying but the pitch took a lot of water, so we couldn’t train yesterday (Wednesday), but the day before, the team was in a very good spirit, confident but not over confident and I think we can look positive to the game with respect to the opponent but with great self belief in our own abilities.”
On what Zimbabwe want to achieve, Nees said: “Our objective is to qualify, that is the objective and not to think if what, how, we want to qualify and that is our main objective and we are not thinking anything else.”
On whether he fears Kenya could spoil their qualification hopes, the Belgian tactician said: “We analysed Kenya already after the first match and we have re-evaluated them again, Kenya is a very good team, a very stubborn team.
“Maybe their confidence is a little bit shaking now because of the two back-to-back defeats against Cameroon, they have good quality players and a good coach, and we know what to expect from them because we played them before, it will be a tough game but we have to focus on our task.
“We don’t need to think about other teams, but we need to think about our own strength. We have to achieve something and we must work for it, we must fight for it, if we don’t do these as a team, then we will fall on our nose.”
After playing Kenya, Zimbabwe will travel to Yaounde to face Cameroon on November 19 while Kenya will face Namibia in South Africa on the same day.
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