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WE now know the identity of the countries our Warriors will battle with in their group at the 2017 Nations Cup finals in Gabon in January next year — Algeria, Senegal and Tunisia — after the draw held in Libreville on Wednesday night.Some have termed it the Group of Death because of the presence of three teams, the Desert Foxes of Algeria, Senegal’s Lions of Teranga and the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia, who will all arrive with the pedigree of even going all the way to win the tournament and being crowned champions of African football.

Algeria have, for a long time in the past two years, been ranked the best team on the continent because of a Golden Generation of players, led by Leicester City forward Riyad Mahrez, who have transformed them into a very competitive outfit that can even challenge any side in world football today.

Senegal have also been improving, in the past few years, and they have potent weapons in their artillery with Saido Mane, the Liverpool forward who became Africa’s most expensive footballer when he joined the Anfield giants from Southampton, leading their attack.

Tunisia might have a number of home-based players but, as their clubs have repeatedly shown in the CAF Champions League and Confederations Cup, they are quite a formidable outfit who play as a disciplined unit and are technically very good.

We are only featuring in our first Nations Cup finals after 10 years in the wilderness and many pundits have already written us off, suggesting our Warriors are only going there to fulfil their fixtures and just like was the case when we took part in the tournament in 2004 and 2006, we will be out after the first round of matches.

There is no question that ours is the most difficult of all groups, but we don’t believe that our men are going there just to make up the numbers and will be blown away by their group opposition even though we concede that all our matches will be very, very tough.

The current Warriors’ side has fuelled expectations in this country that, finally, we have a group of footballers who can represent our nation with distinction and that they qualified, with a game to spare, topping their group from day one right up to the final round of fixtures, just goes to show that we are also a formidable team.

The way our boys crushed Malawi and a vastly-improved Swaziland 7-0 on aggregate, in the two games that booked our ticket to Gabon, refusing to be crashed by the weight of expectations and the pressure that usually buried them in previous tournaments, makes us believe that we have a team that can be counted upon to make its mark in Gabon.

We might not have the kind of star players who ply their trade in Europe like our opponents, but Knowledge Musona, our talismanic forward, has transformed himself into the leading light at his Belgian side KV Oostende, where he continues to score regularly, after finally settling in European football.

Our defensive rock, Costa Nhamoinesu, has the experience of playing in the UEFA Europa League where his Czech club, Sparta Prague are playing, while Marvellous Nakamba has also been doing well in the Netherlands with both Nyasha Mushekwi and Matthew Rusike getting goals in China and Sweden.

Khama Billiat, who played a starring role as the Warriors qualified for Gabon, has been nominated for the prestigious CAF Player of the Year and there are many who believe he is the best footballer currently plying his trade on the continent and his influence has also seen Mamelodi Sundowns come within just one match of winning the CAF Champions League title.

That we have the players who can stand toe-to-toe with these so-called superstars is not something that we question.

What concerns us, though, is how we will prepare our team for the assignment in Gabon because, so far, there is nothing on the table to suggest the Warriors will get the tough international friendlies they need so that our coach Callisto Pasuwa can play around with his combinations without the pressure that comes with a competitive match.

Already, we missed the window that came with the World Cup qualifiers earlier this month and there are even fears we will miss the next window, which will come next month, where we can have all our best players for the friendly internationals against very strong opposition which can provide us with the right test.

Of course, ZIFA don’t have resources to get things into motion, but this has gone beyond our football leadership because the Warriors don’t belong to the people at 53 Livingstone Avenue, but are the face of our nation and when they succeed the spirits of our people are cheered and our profile as a country is enhanced.

As Sunday Chidzambwa, who has been to the Nations Cup before as coach, rightly put it, we need to craft a masterplan for the Warriors’ participation in Gabon and if we can prepare our boys well, including a possible camp even in West Africa before the tournament, we believe that they can do very well against the big boys they will face in their group.

Let’s support our boys and we can’t understand why their success, so far, hasn’t provoked the kind of corporate support that they need for them to really prepare well for Gabon.We have the arsenal to match the big boys and we shouldn’t let our Warriors down.