Marshall Munetsi, the stand-in captain for the Warriors, expressed strong criticism toward the referees who officiated Zimbabwe’s match against Kenya in the Four-Nation Tournament held in Malawi on Tuesday, March 26.
Despite a valiant effort, the Warriors suffered a 3-1 defeat against the Harambee Stars, with several contentious calls contributing to their loss.
These included a denied penalty appeal and a straight red card issued to coach Norman Mapeza.
In his post-match remarks, Munetsi highlighted how poor refereeing negatively impacts players’ commitment and called for the implementation of VAR technology as a solution to rectify errors made by referees. He said (via Soccer24):
I think some of the decisions by the referee were not good so I think you guys [Journalists] should be interviewing these referees.
I think we have to be fair in Africa maybe bringing VAR to check these things, we are professionals and where we play there’s fairness not what we do in Africa so this affects our commitment.
Zimbabwe finished second at the invitational mini-tournament after winning one match (against Zambia on penalties) and losing the other to Kenya.
The competition provided valuable match experience for the Warriors as they competed against other strong teams like Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia.
The Warriors will certainly learn from their performances, identify areas for improvement, and fine-tune their strategies ahead of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers which resume in June this year.
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