WARRIORS chief striker Knox Mutizwa is confident they will progress from their group stage and reach the final of the African Nations Championship set for Rwanda at the weekend.
The Highlanders marksman who is the reigning Zimbabwe PSL top goal-scorer is expected to play a key role at the tournament.
He netted 14 goals for Highlanders which earned him the top goal scorer award and the second runner up position on the Soccer Stars of the Year calendar.
“We are in a very tough group but I am confident we can advance and even reach the final.
“We need to beat Zambia our first opponents and once we do that everything will follow,” said Mutizwa.
The Warriors face neighbours Zambia in their opening match on 19 January.
“What is important when we go there is for us to fight to make the nation proud,” said Mutizwa.
“It’s an opportunity to market ourselves, but if we think about that we are likely to lose focus. The ultimate objective is to go as far as the final.”
He conceded that Zimbabwe were in a tough group, but said they would go to Rwanda with the aim of finishing top in their pool.
Zimbabwe are in Group D alongside, Zambia, Mali and Uganda, and Mutizwa believes theirs is the toughest group.
“Ours is the toughest group I think, but we are still saying to ourselves we should go there and finish top of the group. We have been working hard, we were having two field and two gym sessions each day.
“At first it was tough, but we know we have to put so much work in training here because there is not much time for training when you are at the tournament. It is important to get our fitness levels high and I think we are now almost there.”
The Warriors are expected to leave for Rwanda on Saturday via Ethiopia.
Zifa had proposed a friendly match against Mozambique and Cameroon but that has failed to materialise.
Kalisto Pasuwa’s men had a warm up game against Zimbabwe’s Confederations Cup representative Harare City whom they beat 3-2 at the National Sports Stadium B Arena and Mutizwa believes the game helped them prepare for the tournament.
“I think it has helped us. We had a run of 70 minutes at least but we would have preferred to have a proper international friendly,” said the striker.Advertisement