Michael Nees watched helplessly on the touchline at the Peter Mokaba Stadium as the Warriors took turns to miss clear-cut goalscoring opportunities against Lesotho.
Zimbabwe failed to convert a glut of chances to the point that even if they had drawn, one would argue two points would have been lost, not one gained.
Any of Bill Antonio, Tawanda Chirewa or Daniel Msendami should have broken the deadlock for Zimbabwe and ensured the country’s first World Cup qualifier victory in over a decade.
But it wasn’t to be, and things even got worse, as Hlompho Kalake’s stoppage-time stunner ensured a victory for Lesotho, to the ire of Warriors fans.
As usual, all eyes after the game were on Nees, with the German expatriate’s body language after the game telling the whole story.
The Warriors have less than two months to put their act together and prepare for what will be their sixth appearance at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals.
Zimbabwe have never progressed to the knockout stages of the continental extravaganza, but football stakeholders highly doubt Nees can break that jinx in Morocco.
The German mentor admitted the goalscoring rate in Zimbabwe is “just too low”, a setback which he insists starts from the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League and negatively impacts the national team.
Nees, though, is casting a blind eye on several things.
He is forgetting that since he took over the reins as Warriors coach, the outspoken coach has never given a chance to the player who would be leading the goal scorers’ chats at that particular point.
Lynoth Chikuhwa led the Golden Boot race for most of 2024, but the only gold and green strip the lanky striker ever wore last year was the Lakers sweater he likes so much.
Similarly, TelOne’s Washington Navaya and MWOS’ Billy Veremu have traded blows in the Golden Boot race in 2025, but none of them has ever been drafted into the Warriors fold.
What is Nees’ selection criteria and how does he explain the fact that Terrence Dzvukamanja, for instance, is a regular in the national team having scored just two goals since joining Scottland, while Navaya and Veremu continue to be ignored?
How then is Dzvukamanja expected to suddenly start scoring goals in the national team, when he hasn’t regularly done so at title-chasing Scottland.
How then does Nees appear to struggle to understand how the Warriors have played six hours of football in the World Cup qualifiers, without scoring a single goal?
Which of the offensive players he has constantly been selecting has scored at least four goals in the Castle Lager Premiership this season?
For someone who claims to have watched 60 matches in the PSL this season, is Nees honestly telling football-loving Zimbabweans that a player like FC Platinum’s Jarrison Selemani, for instance, is not worthy of a place in the Warriors squad?
Isn’t it ignorance or arrogance that Nees continues to believe that a player like MWOS’ Abubakar Moffat is not good enough to be in the Warriors squad?
Gentle reminder: this is a coach who has beaten only one team since taking over as Warriors coach.
Namibia is the only team to be beaten by Zimbabwe in the Nees tenure.
