AFCON: Zimbabwe in difficult situation before Egypt test, coach unconcerned over Salah and Marmoush

By Agencies

Zimbabwe coach Marian Marinica admitted on Sunday that his team is facing a very difficult situation ahead of its “tough” Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) group-stage opener against Egypt, but insisted he is not worried about confronting Pharaohs stars, Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush.

Egypt will face Zimbabwe on Monday night at Stade Adrar in Agadir, Morocco, in the opening match of the Group B competition.

“It will be a tough game because we are facing a big team. Both teams reached the finals, so we deserve to be here, and our main target is to reach the next round. We are ready to face Egypt’s strong side,” Marinica said at the pre-match press conference.

Zimbabwe will be without several key players in Monday’s match, but the Romanian coach said his team is prepared for the challenge despite the absences.

“The situation is very difficult. We are missing seven players due to injury, and we are not sure all of them will be ready for tomorrow’s game. We always try to apply our strategy, but the current situation is complicated, especially as we will be playing a match every three days,” the 59-year-old coach explained.

“We couldn’t hold a proper training camp because FIFA disrupted our plans. We hoped the players would join the camp two weeks earlier, but that didn’t happen. Still, we will do our best,” added Marinica, who took charge last month after Zimbabwe failed to win a single match in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers under former coach Michael Nees.

No worry of stars Salah and Marmoush

Facing high-profile players such as Liverpool winger Mohamed Salah and Manchester City forward Omar Marmoush is not a concern for Marinica, who said his focus is on the collective performance rather than individual stars.

“Salah and Marmoush are big names, but we are not worried. If we were, it would be better to stay at home. We are not thinking about individuals, but about the opponent as a team,” he said.

“We only want to apply what we worked on in training, and we hope to achieve the best possible result,” Marinica concluded.

Egypt reached the AFCON final in 2017 and 2021, losing to Cameroon and Senegal, respectively.

Zimbabwe, meanwhile, have made six appearances at the continental tournament, with their most recent outing coming in the 2021 edition, where they were eliminated in the group stage.