The Warriors, despite the agony of conceding a late goal against Egypt in Agadir on Monday, ought to be proud of their performance.
Marian ‘Mario’ Marinica’s charges, despite a somewhat slow start to the game, eventually settled and even took the lead through Prince Dube, with 20 minutes on the clock.
Omar Marmoush restored parity for the seven-time champions on the hour-mark, before Mohamed Salah stole it right at the death for the Pharaohs.
While the debate as to what went wrong can go on until the cows come home, the general consensus among Warriors fans is that Marinica should have, among the many things the Romanian could have done to preserve what would have been a precious one point, was to reinforce the defense.
Teenage Hadebe, for someone who was playing as a makeshift left back, had done well to contain Salah throughout the game.
Hadebe was tiring at the end and perhaps Marinica should have reinforced the backline with the introduction of Divine Lunga.
The plan, according to Marinica, was to introduce Lunga with perhaps 15 minutes to go, as the Mamelodi Sundowns star was carrying a knock.
He has since recovered and took part in today’s training session, after the Warriors arrived in the city of Marrakech- ahead of the Angola clash.
Lunga was clearly missed against Egypt and it was no surprise that Marinica bemoaned his absence, as well as that of former captain Knowledge Musona, as well as Sean Fusire.
Zimbabwe need to avoid defeat to entertain any chance of progressing to the knockout stages of AFCON 2025, ahead of the last group game against South Africa.
