Michael Nees Shifts Focus To FIFA World Cup
Zimbabwe Warriors coach Michael Nees has shifted his focus to the World Cup qualifiers after successfully qualifying for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco with a game to spare.
The Warriors have never qualified for the Fifa World Cup and Nees will be hoping to break the jinx and take the nation to their first World Cup finals to be hosted in the USA, Mexico, and Canada.
Nees who was appointed in October had the mandate to help the Warriors achieve qualification for both the Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup- though the latter seems to be out of reach after a poor start to the campaign.
With the Afcon qualifiers out of the way, the 52-year-old German mentor now has firmly put his focus on qualifying the nation to the 2026 World Cup finals.
Nees has surprised many by turning the Warriors’ fortunes around within a short space of time, dropping 8 places in the FIFA rankings from 129 to 121 in the World in only three months after his appointment.
Ever since he took over the reigns, Zimbabwe Warriors have only lost once to Cameroon and drawn three times to Kenya, Cameroon and Namibia with one win over Namibia. The coach will be hoping to utilize the same form to help Zimbabwe achieve their World Cup dream.
Currently the Warriors are sitting at the bottom of group K of the World Cup with two points from four games.
They will face Benin away in March 2025 before hosting the Super Eagles of Nigeria four days later.
There are still a lot of games to be played in Group J including Benin- twice, Rwanda, South Africa, and Lesotho to decide the two spots that will qualify for the World Cup.
Nees is optimistic that the Warriors still have a chance to make their maiden appearance on the World stage
“The group is not decided yet, and we have to see this as a new project,” Nees said after completing his first mission of qualifying the country for the 2025 AFCON finals in Morocco.
“We have to try everything and hope to turn it around.
“We will also have to use these qualifiers as preparations for the 2025 Afcon, so I would say it is a double project.”
The Warriors will wrap up their World Cup qualifiers campaign in October 2025 when they play Lesotho away from home.
