Zimbabwe will not be doing any favours for Bafana

Zimbabwe might be out of contention to qualify for the 2026 Fifa World Cup, but there are plenty of reasons why they won’t be rolling out the red carpet for Bafana Bafana at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Friday.

The Warriors are at the bottom of Group C having lost four and drawn four of their previous eight qualifiers.

In Bafana they are facing a team desperate for three points as, alongside table-topping Benin, Nigeria and Rwanda, one of them can still qualify if the results of the last two rounds go their way.

First, there’s pride at stake and eagerness to avenge the first leg result in the Free State last year where the Warriors lost 3-1 to Bafana.

Thapelo Morena scored a brace after striker Iqraam Rayners’s 1st minute goal had been cancelled a minute later by Tawanda Chirewa.

But the most important reason Zimbabwe needs this match is because they have to test themselves against tougher and higher-ranked opposition ahead of the 2026 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco later this year.

Bafana are one of the three teams Zimbabwe will meet in Group B at the 2026 Afcon with Angola and Egypt completing that group.

Zimbabwe’s German-born coach Michael Nees, who qualified the team for Afcon with a game to spare, admitted at the match venue on Thursday that they will be desperate to gauge where they are ahead in Afcon.

The clash between South Africa and Zimbabwe on December 29 at Stade de Marrakech could decide who goes to the next round as it comes as a final group match after both teams they’d played against Angola and Egypt.

“We deserve to be at the Afcon but when you look at our World Cup (qualification results) we don’t deserve to be at the World Cup. But that doesn’t mean we have to bury our heads in the sand.

“We have to work harder because there are two and half months to go to the Afcon and that for us is motivation. We’re responsible for our situation and others have a responsibility for theirs,” said the 58-year-old who was Safa’s technical adviser between 2008 and 2009.

The Zimbabwe coach added he won’t be doing any kind of experiment with his team against Bafana on Friday as they’ll be eager to show everyone that they’re not doing them favours as their neighbours and also playing their home match in South Africa (because they don’t have approved stadiums in Zimbabwe).

“I’ve explained before that we have a duty as sportsmen to take this game seriously,” said Nees of the mentality with which Zimbabwe wants to approach Friday’s game.

“We cannot now start here with experimenting, giving players just a test and things like that. It (that decision) will be interpreted very quickly in a certain way. We cannot afford that.

“The history of Zimbabwean football is a little bit rocky and we discussed that in length inside the association. We have to give our best. It’s our duty and you see in the squad it’s not an experimenting team.

“You can see in the squad it’s experienced players, players who qualified for Afcon, but I think the squad is strong enough.”

Bafana skipper Ronwen Williams also attested to the threat Zimbabwe could pose if they don’t take them seriously.

“When you look at this Zimbabwe team you can’t look at only one player. They’ve got players playing all over the world now and doing amazing things.

“If you look at the goal that Nyasha Munetsi scored at the weekend (for Wolves against Brighton) it gets you worried.

“We don’t solely focus on one player (Munetsi). We know his qualities. But we’re focused on ourselves because we don’t even know if he might start tomorrow (he’s doubtful because of injury). We’ve analysed them and we know their strengths and weaknesses.

“Obviously we know most of them and we know they’ll want to come up and want to get the job done and not make it easy for us. We don’t expect them to.”

SA v Zimbabwe head to head

Bafana are ranked 55th in the world according to Fifa and have beaten Zimbabwe (ranked 125th) nine times.

The Warriors have won seven times and three of the ties between these teams have ended in a stalemate.