Zimbabwe head coach Marian Marinica demanding Bafana scalp in must-win AFCON clash

By vodacomsoccer.com

Zimbabwe head coach Marian Marinica is targeting all three points from his side’s Africa Cup of Nations Group B encounter against South Africa.

The Warriors kicked off their AFCON campaign with a 2-1 defeat to Egypt but gave themselves some hope of making it out of the group stages with a 1-1 draw with Angola last time out.

They now need a result at Stade de Marrakech on Monday against a Bafana team who are yet to secure their place in the last 16.

The last time these two sides met, Zimbabwe held Bafana to a 0-0 draw in World Cup qualifying when their qualification hopes were over to very nearly end South Africa’s chance of making to USA, Canada and Mexico next year.

Reflecting on his team’s recent draw, where Knowledge Musona cancelled out Gelson Dala’s opener, Marinica expressed his desire to see off Bafana and stake their place in the next round.

He said on FARPost: “Well, obviously, if you like to play, it’s good, because at the end of the day, as I said, in the last few minutes, we had a chance to probably finish the game. We had another chance on target, so it could have been different.

“But on the other hand, we have to acknowledge that we came from behind against a very, very solid team, and they could have finished the match. But we managed to stay in the game, show our winning spirit, and slowly catch up, scoring in the very last minutes of the first half.

“So, I think we’ve gained a point from that point of view. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if we have two points lost or one point gained — we still have one point, and we need to win the last match against South Africa to have a chance to qualify. There is no negotiating, we must win.”