Tembo assesses Zimbabwe’s world cup chances

ZTN Sport

Former Zimbabwe Warriors vice-captain Kaitano Tembo has assessed his country’s chances of progressing to the final qualifying phases of the FIFA Qatar 2022 World Cup finals.

Zimbabwe is in the same group as African football powerhouses, Ghana, neighbours South Africa and Ethiopia.

The Black Stars have qualified to three of the previous four World Cup finals, but the SuperSport United coach believes they are no longer as good as they used to be.

‘‘Well, I think we are in a relatively good group which I feel with good preparations we have an opportunity to do well in this group.

“Ghana, they have been one of the powerhouses of African football in the past but they haven’t been convincing and consistent in their previous matches going back to the previous Afcon tournament.

“They have just appointed a new coach which means their camp is not yet settled. We can definitely take our chances and take them on because we have quality players and having Knowledge Musona playing regularly is a huge boost for the Warriors.”

Speaking to the Herald in an earlier interview, Ngwenya, as Tembo is popularly known, spoke of the hugely anticipated Limpopo derby.

‘‘Bafana Bafana — this is probably the biggest fixture in this group because we are neighbours and there is some rivalry between us.

‘‘The players from both teams have played with and against each other and they know each other very well so this is going to be an exciting and very interesting fixture,” he said.

He also commented on Ethiopia.

‘‘Ethiopia — they have improved as a team and cannot be taken lightly. They are very difficult to beat at home,” he said.

“Overview, we have a very good team with some good individual players that are capable to beat anybody on a good day.

‘‘But, for us to do well, we will need good preparations and make sure that we win our home matches because all the three teams are beatable.’’

The first round of the group stage will be played in October, and the group winners progress to the next stage of the qualifiers.