Zambia’s Chipolopolo Boys and Zimbabwe’s Warriors will face off tomorrow for the first time since 2021 in the opening match of the Four Nations tournament hosted by Malawi in Lilongwe.
The Chipolopolo will face Zimbabwe at 14:00 CAT at the Bingu National Stadium before the host nation faces Kenya’s Harambee Stars at 17:00 CAT.
The winners of the two matches will compete in the final on Tuesday at 17:00 hours, while the losers will face off at 14:00 hours for the third and fourth play-offs.
Zimbabwe has summoned a majority of European-based players, including young players from various lower-division clubs in the United Kingdom, in an effort to rebuild their national team after serving a two-year FIFA ban.
The Warriors’ midfielder, Marshall Munetsi, who plays for French Ligue 1 club Stade Reims, said playing against Zambia is always a must-win because neither team wants to lose, as pride is always at stake.
“Our fans in Zim want to see good football. Playing against Zambia is always a rivalry because we don’t want to lose to them, they don’t want to lose to us and they also have quality players. We don’t want to lose any games so we are going to take it seriously.”
Munetsi happy with Warriors progress after FIFA ban
The former Orlando Pirates player also believes the friendly tournament will help his team prepare for the upcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers in June.
“We have guys that are playing at the highest level and playing against our brothers; as you know, Zambia also has good players so it’s going to show us where we are as a team,” Munetsi said during a pre-match press conference in Lilongwe on Friday morning.
He continued: “But [when you] think about the previous games we played in the World Cup qualifiers (1-1 and 0-0 against Nigeria and Rwanda, respectively). We did very well against all odds after being away for a very long time; nobody was expecting us to get at least two points from those two games. So this tournament is going to help us prepare for the upcoming games.”
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