Despite his players’ lack of league action, the 54-year-old Croat believes he has the talent at his disposal to shine in Cameroon
Coach Zdravko Logarusic claims his Zimbabwe squad can defy all odds to have a good showing at the 2021 African Nations Championship.
Players from the Southern African country have experienced inactivity as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak. They last played competitive football when the country’s top-flight season ended on November 30, 2019.
However, the veteran tactician who had previously led Sudan to the biennial African football showpiece is positive that his team can shake off their coronavirus-induced rust to pull a shock in Group A.
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“I have seen more than 40 players who have the potential to play for the national team but it’s very hard to select players who haven’t played football for nine, 10 months,” Logarusic told the media, as reported by Caf.
“Anyway, we will try our best to see how things go. We have tried our best as the technical team to give most players in the top-flight a chance to prove themselves.
“We will certainly try our best. We need to improve in every area of the game and hopefully, by the time we leave for Chan, we will be in better shape as a team.
“The players haven’t played football for eight, nine months and for sure every aspect of their game needs to be improved.
“It’s like what we have done in the past weeks has been pre-season and it’s difficult to judge which player can do well.
“Zimbabwe is full of talent and I think we will have a team to start working with. The players are breaking camp and I have urged them to try and be disciplined over this short period.”
Zoned in Group A alongside hosts Cameroon, Mali and Burkina Faso, the Brave Warriors will begin their campaign on January 16 versus the Indomitable Lions at the Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo, Yaounde.
Four days later, they take on the Stallions at the same venue before trying the Eagles for size on January 24.
Zimbabwe are making a fifth Chan and their best outing remains a fourth-place finish achieved in South Africa 2014. There, they lost the third-place match to the Super Eagles with Chinonso Obiozor’s 85th-minute strike settling the encounter at the Cape Town Stadium.
