D Day for Warriors

By Mbekezeli Ncube

Veteran sports reporter, Lovemore Dube has said that Zimbabwean Warriors must win tonight's game against the Cranes of Uganda if they want to keep hopes of progressing to the next round of the Africa Cup of Nations alive.

If the Warriors lose today Uganda will be on six points and on paper, Egypt are the favourites to beat DRC in another group A match to be played later today.

'This is the match to win because if they do not win they may as well consider themselves out of the tournament. Our expectations are high that the boys will rise to the occassion and deliver,' said Dube.

'Tonight's game is the decider, if they win they will have the energy to go all the way to the next stage.' he added.

Zimbabwe has never qualified for the knockout rounds of AFCON since their debut appearance in Tunisia 2004.

'If the boys escape the group stages, I'm not tipping them to go beyond the quarter finals. In terms of quality we are not yet there to be considered continental giants,' said Dube

According to Dube, Zimbabwe has a few players in the big leagues unlike other nations who have players like Mohamed Salah (Egypt) and Sadio Mane (Senegal) who play for current European champions Liverpool.

'We do not have players of that magnitude in our line up, they are playing for second or third division teams in Europe. Some of them are playing for South African clubs who may not even be bigger than our teams like Dynamos, FC Platinum, Chicken Inn, Highlanders and Ngezi Platinum,' he said.

Dube tipped Warriors to win by a two goal margin with Khama Billiat scoring.

Lovemore Dube is the former Chronicle Sports Editor who is currently working for ambitious Zifa Southern Region Division One outfit Talen Vision.