Warriors of Zimbabwe head coach Michael Nees has explained why his players gave everything in their 0-0 draw with Bafana Bafana of South Africa in Friday’s Group C 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier.
Watched by a sold-out crowd at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, the Warriors put up a determined fight — and were twice saved by the woodwork.
Sitting at the bottom of Group C with just five points from nine matches, Zimbabwe were playing for pride, but for Nees, the stalemate was mission accomplished and also not to favour any team.
“The game showed that football can also be entertaining when no goals are scored. If every game would be like that I think everybody would always go home with a feeling of satisfaction for the money spent. It was a fight on a high level, with drama, yellow, red card questionable,” Nees said (via sabcsport.com).
“A very fair match, I think I didn’t see a single bad tackle with bad intentions when you think about what was discussed before, what was at stake. So, it was a really fair contest, we showed what we said.
“We want to be fair sportsmen, we give everything because it’s also important for the AFCON and for many other reasons and I think we showed that. We are a real team, sticking together.
“I was very impressed, especially after the yellow, red card, how we were fighting to the limit with a little bit of luck. We almost won the game but we must also admit, South Africa played very strong and they also had chances. I think between neighbours, it’s a good draw.”
This was Zimbabwe’s fifth draw in the group, and although they remain winless with one match to go, Nees believes the performance was another important step in building momentum ahead of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco this December.
He also questioned the red card shown to Knowledge Musoona in the 63rd minute.
“I saw it not the first time with the team, actually I saw many, many times. Yes the last two games we were a little bit, especially that game in Cote d’Avoire, we could have done better,” the coach added.
“Actually that’s what we need to expect from the team and also what they expect from themselves because I want to say it again, we don’t want to go to Morocco and be tourists there.
“We want New Year’s eve in Marrakech because the second round starts in the new year and that is our ambition, our target. We are working towards that, it’s not always a smooth ride, it’s a little bit also up and down.
“But when you look at the long run, I don’t think many teams today could have come to South Africa in a fully packed stadium and gotten a draw. Especially with the yellow, red card, a very questionable one and we can be there for the performance, for the attitude, also for the skills, I’m satisfied.”
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Good sportsmanship. I won’t say Lesotho sold out to COSAFA, but the manner in which they crumbled to SA, but became very resilient when facing the SE is suspicious.