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Willard Katsande

Eddie Chikamhi  Senior Sports Reporter—

WARRIORS skipper Willard Katsande says there is still a lot of work to be done to make Zimbabwe a competitive outfit that will be able to stand its ground at next year’s Africa Cup of Nations.The midfield hardman believes the team showed some positive qualities in their morale-boosting 3-0 win over Tanzania in their first international friendly match in preparation for the tournament at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday.

Strikers Knowledge Musona, Nyasha Mushekwi and Matthew Rusike scored while the defence was never breached.

Katsande reckons the win over Tanzania should not blind them to the tougher battles awaiting them in Group B which features heavyweights Senegal, Tunisia and Algeria.

Zimbabwe, who are only returning to the big stage after 10 years, are the underdogs in the group.

“This is the only time that we get to play as a team during the FIFA international dates. I think we did well although there are some areas we need to rectify.

“We need to go back to the drawing board and try to perfect. But, overall I am quite impressed because we managed to keep a clean sheet.

“Going forward in the (AFCON) tournament the more you keep clean sheets the more the chances of progressing,” said Katsande.

Warriors coach Callisto Pasuwa embraced the opportunity to blend a host of local and foreign-based players as he looks to build his final squad ahead of the tournament.

The Warriors made six substitutions in the second half as Pasuwa sought to observe more players in action.

He even experimented with Danny Phiri at the centreback.

But with eight weeks of preparations remaining, Netherlands-based midfielder Marvelous Nakamba also backed his captain’s views and insisted the Warriors needed to improve all round to match their technically sound opponents at AFCON.

“We can always improve. In football there is always room for improvement. Winning gives confidence to the players, but the most important thing was to look at ourselves, to have some time together as a team and see where we can improve as a team and I think we have a lot to improve,” said Nakamba.

The midfielder has become one of the pivotal players in Pasuwa’s side with his vision and high level of technique .

He said it was good for their confidence that they managed to post a convincing win over Tanzania and believes their attack, which also includes Khama Billiat, Tendai Ndoro, Cuthbert Malajila, Tino Kadewere and Evans Rusike, could be their strength.

“It gives us confidence because during the qualifiers we were also scoring more goals at home. I think at home we have been taking our chances and if we can improve more on our attacking we can score against any team,” said Nakamba.