COSAFA Cup: Zimbabwe's Warriors are not magicians — Marange

Marange: Photo Credit: Zimbabwe Football Association.

Zimbabwe stand-in coach Tagarira Marange says the Warriors could not have performed miracles against Mauritius at the 2025 COSAFA Cup on Wednesday, June 5.

The coach said the squad only trained once before the Group A game, which ended goalless at Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

"I don’t think we went wrong at any point. I think we could have done other things better. [But] we have trained once, so they are not magicians. It takes a bit of time to work on these things," he said.

The game ended goalless, with the islanders nearly pulling off an upset against the six-time champions.

Marange said his team was not ruthless enough to beat Mauritius, but performance will improve as competition progresses.

“At the end of the game, it is a fair result. We had a lot of control and kept a lot of the ball. We had a lot of patterns, but I don’t think we were ruthless and dynamic enough in the final third. I don’t think we made the right decisions and showed the quality we have with our players,” the coach added.

“I don’t think we necessarily went wrong. I thought the boys applied themselves better. [However], you see set-pieces, it tells you they have trained once.”

The coach hopes Zimbabwe can bounce back when they take on South Africa on June 7 before winding up the group’s assignment with Mozambique on June 10. Only the group winner will advance to the semifinals.