BY SPORTSCAST WRITER
HARARE – Zimbabwe football coach Michael Nees says his team played well enough to beat Kenya and Cameroon in their opening Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, but concedes that it was down to “luck” that both opponents also didn’t win.
Zimbabwe and Kenya battled out a dull 0-0 at Mandela National Stadium in Kampala on Friday in the first of a double-header to start their Afcon qualification quest.
Nees’ men then put on a more inspired performance at the same venue on Tuesday against a more fancied Cameroon side and could have defeated the five-time African champions had they been clinical in front of goal. It also finished nil all.
“With a little bit of luck, we could have six points, with a little bit of bad luck, we could have zero points,” Nees commented on the small margin between his charges and their opponents.
“We just need to work continuously, we need to stay focused, we really need to. We are on the right track, we just had nine days together – it feels much longer. We have a lot of work to do for sure, but this this performance is very encouraging.”
The Warriors outshone the Cameroonians on Tuesday with returning talisman Khama Billiat, at the age of 34, proving that class is permanent.
“It was a very intense performance against a strong team, despite their (Cameroon) problems off the field,” Nees said. “It was a very disciplined, courageous performance from our team.”
Geman Nees admitted that his team lacked potency up front, attributing it to absence of composure.
“The players at that moment need to rather take a deep breath, slow down a little bit, and finish with accuracy that with power,” he said. “But then they didn’t do bad, sometimes it was just an inch missing. We can be happy with the performance, absolutely.”
