Zimbabwe coach Callisto Pasuwa claims that he is wary of the expectations over his team ahead of the 2016 COSAFA Castle Cup, which begins in a few weeks.
Zimbabwe head into the tournament looking to win the title for a record fifth time. The nation’s is the most successful in this competition after having won it four times – a record shared with Zambia. The other most successful teams in the competition are South Africa and Angola – both have won the title three times. Zimbabwe, though, will be looking to overcome the memories of last season’s tournament, which was very poor on all fronts.
Zimbabwe failed to get past the first round of the tournament and suffered a 4-1 loss to Namibia, which led to a second-place finish in the group. This time around, the nation will be up against the likes of Swaziland, Madagascar, and Seychelles in the group stages. The other group will feature teams like Angola, Mauritius, Malawi, and Lesotho. Pasuwa dismissed claims that Zimbabwe are overwhelming favourites to get a win. He says that there are no big and small teams when it comes to a tournament, as each team have come to the stage on merit. Zimbabwe’s last match ended in a 4-0 win over Swaziland and it will give them much-needed confidence.
“It is a cliché in football, but it is true, there are no small teams these days and no easy games. All countries are very well prepared and will provide us with a challenge, we will certainly not be underestimating anybody.But we are preparing well and to the same standard that we always do. We have to concentrate on our group matches first and if we progress, then we can worry about Zambia. We will be ready,” said the Zimbabwe coach ahead of the tournament.