finals tomorrow without one of their key players at the tournament, Eric Mudzingwa.
Zimbabwe will face record cup holders Uganda in the last eight after finishing second in Group A, which was won by Rwanda with a 100 percent record.
Team manager Wellington Mpandare yesterday confirmed Mudzingwa, who missed the second game against Rwanda due to illness, will not be in the line-up tomorrow because of the two yellow cards he accumulated against Djibouti and Tanzania.
Mpandare, however, remained confident that they have replacements equal to the task, with DC Academy defender Tinashe Masika a worthy option.
Zimbabwe, who were not part of the countries originally invited to participate in the tournament, were surprise packages to reach the knockout phase with victories over Djibouti and hosts Tanzania in the group games.
Mapeza’s troops, comprising largely youth and fringe players have, according to Mpandare, achieved their target at the tournament.
“We brought a development side to give the coach an opportunity to look at some players who usually do not get the chance to play in the senior team but following the victory over Tanzania everyone is talking about Zimbabwe now,” said Mpandare.
Their opponents Uganda finished second in Group B, which was won by Burundi on seven points and also included Zanzibar and Somalia.
Uganda are the record holders of the Cecafa Cup with 11 titles to their credit.
The Cranes, who finished on six points in their group, lost once to Burundi in the round robin phase but they had beaten Zanzibar 2-1 and thrashed Somalia 4-0.
“We have seen their games and it appears Uganda are a very physical team. They have the height and they like to use power but we are prepared for them.
“We have no pressure at all at this stage and as I have said before, we are now playing for fun,” said Mpandare.
Zimbabwe began their campaign on the right footing when they dismissed Djibouti 2-0 through goals from Donald Ngoma and leftback Qadr Amini’s freekick.
But they lost the next game 2-0 to Rwanda before bouncing back against the defending champions Tanzania, who are hosting the tournament for the second year in succession.
Ngoma scored his second goal of the tournament in the game and the Warriors benefited from an own-goal early in the first half.
The hosts however pulled one back from the spot in the 88th minute.

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