Munetsi reveals pressure from Nigerian teammate after Bafana’s World Cup blunder

The Zimbabwean Warriors delivered a goalless draw against Bafana at the Moses Mabhida stadium on Friday, a result that has thrown Group C wide open, going into tomorrow’s last games.

Out of contention for the top spot, the Warriors play Lesotho in their final game tomorrow in Polokwane, and Munetsi is also interested to see which country between South Africa, Nigeria or Benin will emerge.

"I think even for me I have a teammate who's playing for Nigeria so as soon as he saw that South Africa was deducted three points, he was on my case in training. I think it's exciting for African football because I think everybody was watching to see how the group is gonna be but obviously South Africa has really been doing well if you check their records since the last AFCON,” Munetsi said. 

“They've been progressing very well and I think for us, we're just here to enjoy the game and build up for AFCON. So, I think for the other teams, they have the pressure, so, I'm also looking forward to seeing what's gonna happen in the last game."

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Their goalless draw against Bafana Bafana was one of their polished performances yet in the campaign, and Munetsi says they can build from it, as they continue their preparations for the AFCON.

"I think obviously when you play for Zimbabwe, with the players we have, I think you'd always want to win a game of football but obviously the context was very different for us,” he added. 

“We had nothing to really play for besides our pride but we know that South Africa were trying to fight to qualify but obviously as competitors you want to show your A-game when you play in a stadium like this and most of us, I think we played in South Africa we know how the atmosphere is. 

“Also, we have to remember that this is our direct opponent when it comes to AFCON. It's a game we could not have lost but it's a game we have to learn and also take some lessons that we can take for the AFCON."

With the AFCON tournament set to be staged in Morocco between the 21st of December and 18th January 2026, European-based players will be under pressure again from their clubs to choose between club and country.