The Warriors interim coach insists that they will do a decent job against the Black Stars despite the odds favouring their opponents
Zimbabwe coach Norman Mapeza has admitted that it will he difficult to play against Ghana in the 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers but believes they can pull a surprise.
The Warriors are yet to pick a win in the qualifiers after sharing the spoils at home against South Africa and losing 1-0 away against Ethiopia. These results coupled with others led to the sacking of Zdravko Lugarosic.
Ghana, on the other hand, have also changed their coach after Charles Kwablah Akonnor was replaced with Milovan Rajevac a fortnight ago due to poor run of results.
“We are going to play a very good team. If you look at their squad, they have got so many players playing in Europe and I watched their game against South Africa and they did well despite losing,” Mapeza said.
“With the new coach coming, they will change their game plan. We don’t know much about their new coach except that he was there when they played the World Cup in South Africa,”
“They have Thomas Partey, Jordan Ayew. Those are quality players, so definitely it’s not going to be an easy game. They are a very good team.” He added.
He continued: “The squad that I picked, I think it’s a balanced squad, I am someone who is much more into the flexibility of players. Football is evolving, so you need flexibility in the squad.
“I hope with the guys who are here, we can go and do a good job for the nation in Ghana. Playing away in Africa is not easy. You look at the odds, they favour Ghana because of their history.
“They play in the Africa Cup of Nations finals a lot. It’s not going to be easy, but we will go there and give it our best and try to bring a positive result,” he concluded.
In the other group game, Ethiopia will host South Africa in Addis Ababa before the return leg takes place next week at the Soccer City Sports Stadium in Johannesburg.
