Zimbabwe qualified for the first round after beating Sudan 5-2 in a one-legged preliminary round qualifier early this month.
The match was restricted to a one-off encounter because the Sudanese had no resources to host the reverse fixture.
National team gaffer Frank Farakezi told Standardsport that his charges were ready to take on the South Africans as the preparations for the tie were progressing well with two camps in Bulawayo and Harare.
“This is a totally different game from our previous match as South Africa have played in the previous qualifiers but we are not taking that into consideration as we will be going there looking for a victory,” said Farakezi
South Africa, on the other hand, have stepped up preparations for the match as they played two friendlies against Mozambique but lost both matches.
Their coach, Quinton Allies, attended the Zimbabwe–Sudan match to spy on the opposition but Farakezi said he was not worried about that.
“We have a good chance of beating South Africa. Unlike them, we have an organised league and a very broad pool of players.
Their coach was here to watch our match, but that will not give me sleepless nights. In fact, it shows that they are afraid of our team,” said Farakazi.
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Allies, whose side has been out of action for some time, said the Mozambique match helped in shaking off some rust ahead of the Zimbabwe tie.
The other teams are Egypt, South Africa, Morocco, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Zambia, Nigeria, Tunisia, Cameroon and Libya.
