Kenya national football team coach Engin Firat has heaped praise on the Warriors and tipped the Zimbabwe national football team to do well at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations tournament.
Zimbabwe secured their spot in the finals with a game to spare, following an entertaining 1-1 draw against Firat’s side in South Africa on Friday.
Firat believes that the Warriors, who are under the tutelage of Michael Nees, a German coach, are in capable hands. He said:
<blockquote>
Your coach is doing a really clever thing. He knows that Zimbabwe has a good defence and therefore he plays deep and goes for transition.
He has brought back Khama Billiat and now has a real playmaker who can keep the ball.
The team is now very competitive. If I look around they have players playing for good clubs in big leagues. This is a really strong team.
Even in our group Namibia has one point but in the World Cup qualifiers, they are second in their group.
So this group was very rough. This is the reality, Zimbabwe are going to the AFCON, and they have had really good results.
The football needed in Africa is fast transition and a very strong defence. I am sure Zimbabwe have a really good chance of going out of the groups something they have not achieved before. I think they have a very good chance this time.
</blockquote>
Zimbabwe has never advanced beyond the group stage at the AFCON finals. Sunday Chidzambga (twice), Charles Mhlauri, Kalisto Pasuwa and Norman Mapeza all failed to lead the Warriors into the knockout stages at AFCON.
Nees became the second foreign coach to lead the Warriors to AFCON qualification, following in the footsteps of Croatian Zdravko Logarusic, who achieved the same feat in 2021.
More: <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

Pindula News

Kenya Coach, Engin Firat, believes that the Zimbabwe national football team will do well at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations. He praised the team's defense and their playmaker Khama Billiat. Firat thinks that Zimbabwe has a strong team with players from good clubs. They have never gotten past the group stage before, but this time, Firat thinks they have a good chance. The coach is impressed with the team's performance and believes they can make it to the knockout stages at AFCON 2025.

Kenya Coach, Engin Firat, Backs Warriors To Shine At AFCON 2025

The Zimbabwe national men’s football team, the Warriors, have suffered a major blow amid revelations that defender, Teenage Hadebe is a doubt for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament that begins in Cameroon in two weeks’ time.
Days are ticking as the kick-off of Africa’s biggest football tournament nears and the Warriors are busy gathering their armour for a hunt in Yaounde.
United States-based defender, Teenage Hadebe is, however, not part of the 23 players who have reported for camp, with Team Manager, Wellington Mupandare confirming the US-based player is a doubt for the tournament due to some family problems. 
Hadebe is already in the country. Said Mpandare:
<blockquote>
Teenage Hadebe who has been in the country for three weeks is still in Bulawayo attending some pressing family issues, it has been dire for him so we don’t know if he will make it or not, we will talk to him sometime in the next two days and find out.
</blockquote>
Meanwhile, Martin Mapisa has been delayed but he is expected this evening.
The Warriors are already without Khama Billiat who retired from international football following Zimbabwe’s crush from the World Cup 2022.
Zimbabwe is also without Tendayi Darikwa (due to family issues), Marvelous Nakamba and Marshal Munetsi who sustained injuries.
<h2>More: <a href="https://news.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a></h2>

Warriors Suffer Another Setback As Hadebe Is A Doubt For AFCON

The Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) has granted Aston Villa permission to release Marvelous Nakamba late for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Cup Finals.
It’s believed that ZIFA were originally going to ask him to turn up in time for their pre-tournament training camp (Dec 23) but Villa and ZIFA agreed to let him turn up on January 3.
The initial plan would’ve seen Nakamba drop out of contention following the Burnley clash, but following Villa’s request, Nakamba will remain with Villa for the Chelsea, Leeds United and Brentford matches. ZIFA General Manager, Wellington Mpandare confirmed:
<blockquote>
Villa have written to us asking for special favours regarding the release of Nakamba. They requested that Nakamba remains with their team for their EPL games and then they will release him on January 3. We looked into the matter and weighed the pros and cons. The fact that he will be playing competitive football at that level means a lot. It’s because he is doing well at the moment and we want him to bring his best form to the national team. So we agreed to their request and Marve will be joining the camp a bit later.
</blockquote>
Nakamba has been one of Villa’s key players since the arrival of new coach Steven Gerrard who replaced Dean Smith. 
More: <a href="https://astonvilla.vitalfootball.co.uk/agreed-to-their-request-villa-get-some-great-international-news-ahead-of-january/">Aston Villa Vital Football</a>

Aston Villa Granted Permission To Release Nakamba Late For AFCON Finals

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) this Tuesday announced the postponement of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals to 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The AFCON finals were scheduled to be held in Cameroon from January 9 until February 6 next year bu the outbreak of the novel virus saw football suspended on the continent thereby disturbing the qualifying stage.
Meanwhile, the African Nations Championship (CHAN) which was initially slated for April this year has also been moved to 2021 while the 2020 Women’s AFCON has been scrapped completely to make way for the launch of the African Women’s Champions League in 2021.
The continent’s football governing body also resolved that the CAF Champions League and Confederation Cup semi-finals will no longer be contested over two-legs for home and away fixtures as they will now be held in Cameroon, in September, while the CAF Confederation Cup will be hosted in Morocco.
There are still four rounds of AFCON qualifiers to play and they are also likely to be postponed.
Below is the finals calendar:
<ul>
<li>CHAN: January 2021</li>
<li>Olympics: Summer 2021</li>
<li>AFCON: January 2022</li>
<li>2022 World Cup Qualifiers and Finals: 2022</li>
<li>AFCON 2023 Qualifiers and Finals: 2023</li>
</ul>
More: <a href="https://www.zimlive.com/2020/06/30/caf-postpones-africa-cup-of-nations-finals-to-2022-setting-stage-for-fixture-pile-up/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ZimLive</a>

CAF Postpones Africa Cup Of Nations Finals

Khama Billiat’s free kick score gave Zimbabwe an early lead against Congo Brazzaville. Zimbabwe is now through to the Afcon 2019 Finals to be held in June in Egypt.
<div class="fb-video" data-allowfullscreen="true" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/WeArePindula/videos/312930329367946/"></div>

 
<h4>Fulltime: 
<img alt="🇿🇼" class="emoji" decoding="async" draggable="false" src="https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/1f1ff-1f1fc.png"/> Zimbabwe:  2 ( Billiat 20′, Musona 37′ ) 
<img alt="🇨🇬" class="emoji" decoding="async" draggable="false" src="https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/1f1e8-1f1ec.png"/> Congo:   0</h4>
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