Munetsi Optimistic As Warriors Adapt To Coach Nees' Game Plan
Warriors stand-in skipper Marshall Munetsi says the team is adapting well to the new system introduced by head coach Michael Nees.
The Warriors are in camp ahead of their Group J 2025 AFCON qualifier against Kenya at the Mandela National Stadium in Kampala, Uganda, on Friday.
Zimbabwe will then face Cameroon at the same venue next Tuesday.
Munetsi said everything is going well, and the team is looking forward to a positive result against the Harambee Stars. He said (via The Herald):
We are starting to see his ideas because we started talking before we came into the camp.
So, we pretty much knew what to expect from him and the guys are starting to gear up because we have been playing together for a couple of games now.
I think it’s a new system that we are going to try and use but in football, everything depends on the results.
Zimbabwe has faced the Harambee Stars twice this year, starting with their first match at the Four Nations tournament held in Malawi in March.
The Warriors, who were under the interim guidance of FC Platinum coach Norman Mapeza, suffered a 3-1 defeat to Kenya.
The two teams met again at the COSAFA Cup, where the Harambee Stars were a guest team in South Africa.
This time, Jairos Tapera of Manica Diamonds was at the helm, and the Warriors were again defeated by Kenya.
Stand-in skipper Marshall Munetsi acknowledged that while Kenya was a difficult opponent, the Warriors have gained valuable insights about their opponents from these previous encounters. He said:
It was a good start for us to get everybody ready to play our first game on Friday (tomorrow).
Unfortunately, we had one or two injuries for some of the guys who didn’t manage to come.
But we are all eagerly waiting and working very hard to make sure that we get our start for the campaign very well. Kenya are not an easy team to play against.
We have played them previously in a friendly game so we know what to do and we are just trying to listen to our coach as he is a new manager coming in.
We are trying to learn more from him as soon as possible.
Notable absentees from the Warriors squad are England-based Brendan Galloway, and captain Marvelous Nakamba, who suffered a long-term knee injury, and France-based forward Tino Kadewere.
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