Zimbabwe 1-1 Mauritius
ZIMBABWE will play Zambia after beating Mauritius 4-1 on aggregate in the first round of the African Nations Championships (Chan) despite a 1-1 draw at Rufaro Stadium on Sunday against the islanders.
The final qualifying round will be a repeat of the Cosafa Castle Cup where Zambia beat Zimbabwe 2-0 in the final last month.
The Warriors beat Mauritius 3-0 in their own backyard last Sunday with Nelson Maziwisa scoring twice.
At Rufaro on Sunday, the Warriors missed a number of chances until late in the second half when Ali Sadiki and Tawanda Muparati combined to set up captain Masimba Mambare for the opener in the 84th minute.
Mambare received the ball on the edge of the box and his grounder sliced past the diving goalkeeper.
Mauritius though did not give up as Wily Calambe lobbed the ball over goalkeeper Tafadzwa Dube from the edge of the box in the 90th minute.
Warriors coach Ian Gorowa admitted his charges had not played well and need to work harder for the Zambia match.
“We were playing at home and that brought in a lot of pressure. The boys create a lot of chances but made a number of mistakes in the final third. We have to up our game against Zambia,” he said.
Zambia beat Botswana 2-0 to go through 3-1 on aggregate on Saturday.
Festus Mbewe and Evans Kangwa scored for the Zambians in the second half to seal victory, although the Zebras felt they were denied a penalty in the second half.
Warriors squad: Zimbabwe: T. Dube, M. Mambare, E. Chipeta, N. Mazisiwa, D. Chafa, B. Chimwamuchere, C. Sibanda (T. Muparati 46th min), M. Ncube (T. Ndoro 60th minute), P. Moyo (A. Sadiki 75th minute), P. Jaure, H. ZvirekwiAdvertisement