JUDGING by the games that Zimbabwe have played against Lesotho, the Warriors appear to have the edge over their rivals when the two sides clash in a Group C 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifier on Friday at Orlando Stadium in South Africa.
The Warriors are already in camp in South Africa to play their home game there as all local facilities are condemned to host international games.
They will play their next match against Bafana Bafana four days later at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein as they campaign for a place at the 2026 World Cup finals in the United States of America.
The Warriors played two draws against Rwanda and Nigeria in their first two games in November last year. Coach Jairosi Tapera's task is to enhance qualification chances with positive results in these two matches.
On paper, Zimbabwe should walk past Lesotho. However, players, coaches and form have changed over the years in the two squads with Likuena making some improvements while the Warriors suffered a blow when the country was banned from international football for nearly two years.
In the last outings against Likuena, the Warriors have won three times and played two draws.
In 2019 they played a goalless draw in the African Nations Championship (Chan) qualifiers in Maseru.
Sunday Chidzambga, now the Warriors’ technical advisor, was the head coach.
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The Warriors carried a 3-1 win from the first leg back home.
Earlier in the same year, the Warriors had played a 2-2 draw and beaten Lesotho 1-0 in the Cosafa Cup with another victory registered in 2017 when the Warriors beat Lesotho 4-3, also in the Cosafa Cup.
But Lesotho have become a force to reckon with in Southern Africa and in November in the Group C qualifiers, they also played two draws against Benin at home and went on to hold Nigeria away.
Previously they lost 1-0 to giants Ivory Coast in the Africa Cup of Nations in September.
This year, they have played two friendly matches, playing a goalless draw with Bafana Bafana in South Africa and losing 2-1 to Ethiopia away.
The Warriors took part in a three-nation tournament in Malawi in March under the guidance of former coach Norman Mapeza.
The Warriors held their first training session in South Africa with defenders Devine Lunga and Jordan Zemura to join the rest later in the day while Teenage Hadebe is set to join the others today as he was tied up with other commitments.
Injured Brendan Galloway will not be available and so will Macauley Bonne.
Joey Phuthi, Tawanda Maswanhise, Munashe Garananga, Douglas Mapfumo and Andy Rhinomota and a section of the locally-based players training yesterday morning.
