NEES SATISFIED WITH WARRIORS WIN UP AND RUNNING . . . Khama Billiat (number 11) is joined by teammates as he celebrates scoring the only goal of the match during Zimbabwe’s 2025 Afcon Qualifier against Namibia at the Orlando Stadium yesterday. — Picture courtesy of Cosafa.

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ZIMBABWE national football team coach Michael Nees says yesterday’s narrow victory over Namibia was deserved no matter how ugly his team might have played.

With the away win, the Warriors took a giant step in rekindling their quest for the finals in a 2025 AFCON qualifier at Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg.

The German coach was relieved with his first win of the competition as veteran midfielder Khama Billiat made the difference from the penalty spot in the 34th minute while goalkeeper Washington Arubi, the oldest man on the pitch at 39 years, summoned all his experience to keep the Brave Warriors at bay with man-of-the-match performances.

The match was played behind closed doors at the behest of the Namibians, who went on to dominate most of the sections of the play. But at the end of the day, what mattered most for Zimbabwe was the maximum points!

“The game was no beauty contest,” said Nees.

“It was a hard fight that we had anticipated. Because there were no spectators allowed, we knew that it was going to be a fight; not a beauty contest, and at half-time we said okay today we also had some technical mistakes, and let’s accept. We just have to win no matter how it looks,” said Nees.

With the win Zimbabwe took overnight leadership of Group J log standings ahead of the match featuring five-time African champions Cameroon and visiting Kenya at Japoma Stadium in the Central African country this evening.

Zimbabwe, who have now managed to keep three clean sheets, now have five points after playing out goalless draws against Kenya and Cameroon in their opening two matches.

The Warriors, however, have played one game more than Kenya and Cameroon, who are tied on four points.

Namibia remain the only team yet to collect a point in the pool after suffering a third straight loss.

But they will feel they created enough chances in the game yesterday to have got something from it.

 

Zimbabwe had Billiat to thank yesterday after the 34-year-old scored the only goal of the game on 34 minutes from the penalty spot after Kennedy Amutenya had fouled Jordan Zemura in the box.

The conversion however, was a little fortuitous in that Namibia goalkeeper Edward Maova guessed the right way from the spot, but the ball appeared to take a bad bounce off the pitch and went over him.

It is Billiat first goal in a competitive international since 2019, having returned to the side from his international retirement in 2021.

Namibia’s lively forward Prins Tjiueza came close to the equaliser just before half-time, but his shot from 15 yards hit the outside of the post and went away to safety.

At the other end, Marshall Munetsi’s pass to Daniel Msendami provided an opportunity for the latter, whose shot was deflected onto the post and went away to safety.

After that, it was all Namibia as they went in search of an equaliser. Tjiueza had another shot after being set up by Bethuel Muzeu, but his effort was well-saved by goalkeeper Arubi. The keeper then produced another fine stop to deny Ivan Kamberipa, whose header at the back post from a free kick was arrowing into the goal.

Tjiueza’s volley from the edge of the box flashed narrowly wide of the post before Arubi denied him again with 15 minutes to go.

The teams will meet again at the same venue for what will be a home fixture for Zimbabwe on Monday.

Nees was a little bit worried about his team’s lack of preparation but was not too concerned ahead of the return leg.

“I’m not that worried,” he said.

The match was played behind closed doors at the behest of the Namibians, who went on to dominate most of the sections of the play. But at the end of the day, what mattered most for Zimbabwe was the maximum points!

“But you must see the circumstances our game was taking place. Today is Thursday (yesterday) and I only had one training session with the full squad.

“One hour in this stadium where you cannot even train set-pieces because you don’t know who is sitting in the stadium. That’s all that we could do.

“The rest of the time we had to assemble the squad because they come from around the world and this is a catastrophe . . . On the other side, you play against a team that played a January-February tournament and they were two months together maybe because of the AFCON and now again they get together. “They were already in camp because the South African league stopped early and their league is not running so we played them as a club team, an international club team.

“Today we were a bit more lucky because we were fighting, we had luck at the right time and no bad luck at the wrong time and that’s all we could do, to fight until the end and today we got a deserved result for that reason,” said Nees.

Teams:

Namibia: Edward Maova, Riaan Hanamub, Charles Hambira, Kaanjuka Katua (Kulula, 67th min), Deon Daniel Hotto, Romeo Kasume (Shidolo, 67th min), Prins Tjiueza, Kennedy Amutenya, Peter Shalulile, Aprocius Petrus, Van Kamberipa.

Zimbabwe: Washington Arubi, Godknows Murwira, Gerald Takwara, Jordan Zemura (T. Hadebe, 90th min), Brendon Galloway, Marvellous Nakamba (R. Hachiro, 78th min), Marshal Munetsi, Andrew Rinomhota, Khama Billiat (D. Lunga, 78th min), Daniel Msendami (P. Dube, 69th min), Terrence Dzvukamanja (D. Mapfumo, 69th min)

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