After rescuing the tie away following a home defeat against Botswana in the last round, the Zimbabwe national Under-20 side will be looking to make the most of home advantage when they take on West African giants Cameroon in first leg of an Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the National Sports Stadium this afternoon.
BY MUNYARADZI MADZOKERE
As has become the norm, the Young Warriors had only two days to prepare for the match, but coach Jairos Tapera believes they have a better chance of winning at home this time around.
“It’s very difficult when you get only two days to prepare and it’s just about the same time we had to prepare for Botswana. But this time around the slight advantage is that we now know the team having played them twice already, so we simply need to make a few changes to come up with a winning team,” he said.
Tapera continued: “We have covered enough ground in the time we were given and we are ready for the match.
Everybody is happy now. I don’t see anything that can hinder us from performing well against Cameroon.”
The Young Warriors need to beat Cameroon over two legs to progress to the final round of qualifiers where they will meet either Libya or Benin in July.
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The winner of the last round will qualify for the 20th edition of the biennial championship to be held in Zambia from February 26 to March 12 next year.
Zimbabwe is bidding to qualify for the Afcon Under-20 championships for the first time since 1987, but will need to be at their best against a strong Cameroon side which received a bye in the last round.
While Tapera would have hoped for continuity from the side which had a 2-1 aggregate win over neighbours Botswana, he will have to make do without influential Dynamos defensive midfielder Peace Makaha.
Makaha is suspended for today’s encounter after accumulating two yellow cards during the win against Botswana. The Young Warriors will, however, rely on the experience of Ngezi Platinum goalkeeper Nelson Chadya, who looks set to start in today’s encounter, while Triangle’s Darryn Phiri is expected to provide the much-needed experience at the back.
Upfront, Zimbabwe will pin their hopes on Bantu Rovers striker Bhukosi Sibanda, who scored one of the goals against Botswana and Chicken Inn’s Thomas Kadyaridzira as they look to lay a solid foundation ahead of the return leg in Cameroon on June 10.
