Big interview: ‘Zimbabwe has enormous potential’ – Michael Nees
Zimbabwe coach Michael Nees took over ahead of the September start of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Morocco 2025 qualifiers and ensured a top two finish for the Warriors, who will be in the January 27 draw for the finals.
CAFOnline: Tell us about your qualification campaign …
Michael Nees: It was tough for many reasons, firstly because I only arrived in the job three weeks before the qualifiers started, and I didn't bring any coaches with me. I took over the existing staff and didn't look to change anybody.
That was, in a certain way, a challenge, because I very quickly needed to build up trust between us. But we coped very well. We had a good start with two draws in Uganda, our away game against Kenya and home match against Cameroon. It was a very important that we started in an appropriate way, and then it continued right through the brief time that it took to conclude the qualifiers. What really worked for us was that everybody was pulling in the same direction, from the players, the staff, the federation.
We broke our objectives down to smaller targets, and everybody could identify with this. I think our group was very strong, because we had two teams who had competed at the last Afcon in Cote d’Ivoire.
That gave Namibia, for example, an advantage in their coaches had a lot of routine in his work, which we didn't have.
So, I think our group was very balanced, you know, with the added challenge that Cameroon is a powerhouse, with a lot of support from their government to make their campaign go smoother.
How have you built your squad?
We are team which has actually three big groups of players. A big group come from Europe, but also from USA or from Iraq. Then we have a small group from South Africa, and the third group is from Zimbabwe.
So, we are a very diverse team and it makes the logistics, the organisational things, more difficult. From a financial point of view, it’s a major expense if you must fly in so many players from all around the world.
We have not been able to play at home which means the football association has limited resources. So, it was that we had to do all the planning very carefully and we couldn't make any major mistakes, otherwise we would have failed.
That made it a little bit more complex. But everyone gave their best, so it turned out a success.
What do you see as the potential of this team?
Even before I went to interview for the job I’d already done my homework, so I knew quite a lot about Zimbabwe football and the enormous potential that it has. When I analysed the team, I could feel that we had challenges in the goalkeeping department and maybe in terms of a creative player. So, I recalled Washington Arubi as goalkeeper and Khama Billiat in attack.
And I think these two were excellent in the qualifiers, performing better than expected. That just added to a very talented football team. I think it was very important to qualify for Afcon, and there was a certain pressure to do so because Zimbabwe had previously been suspended and before that struggled through the COVID crisis.
So basically, Zimbabwe football had already been, more or less, a couple of years in the desert and if we had not qualified, we would have another two years in the wilderness. That makes it very difficult then for a generation to catch up when they spend such a long way time without participating at the highest level.
It was very, very important for that reason that we break this isolation by qualifying and we achieved that with one game to spare. I think everybody was very happy and satisfied, and also with the way we played.
And now we have a little bit more time until the Cup of Nations finals.
You also have the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers re-starting in March …
Well, if you look at our qualifying group, we are in the last position. We don't need to beat around the bush here, we're not in a very good position. But still, there are six games to play. And we see that as a double project.
First, we want to do everything to turn the corner in the group and turn things for the better, but we know where we are. We know the challenges. At the same time, it's very good preparation for the Cup of Nations finals.
We will try our best, and let's see how it goes. What is more challenging is that we cannot play at home. We always have costs, logistic challenges, and no income. And we cannot play in front of our people.
For sure, this makes it very difficult, because honestly, Zimbabwe is a football crazy country. We could play any opponent right now and it would be packed any day of the week, any day of the week, anytime, any opponent.
You have Benin and Nigeria next in those qualifiers …
We must take it step by step. It is dangerous to be thinking of the second step ahead of the first. We have seen Benin are very strong team. There's no doubt about that. We are in no position to think about the opponent after Benin.
We have a challenge, and we take it step by step and match by match, and actually we must take it training to training, day by day. I think we’ll be well advised to approach it that way, because there's so many variables in football.
In our group, Nigeria is a wounded lion and therefore very dangerous. Their potential is definitely much better than their current position in the group. When you look at the players in Africa, definitely one of the top teams.