The Zimbabwe coach is optimistic about getting a positive result against Egypt in the African Cup

Mario Marinica, coach of the Zimbabwe national team, confirmed that his team is capable of achieving a positive result in its match against Egypt, in the African Cup of Nations, in Morocco.

The Zimbabwean national team will meet its Egyptian counterpart, tomorrow, Monday, in the first round of the second group stage of the continental competition, which also includes the Angola and South African national teams.

Marinika said in the press conference he held today, Sunday, to talk about the match: “A difficult match awaits us against the Egyptian team. Perhaps some people think that we will be the weakest candidate, but I do not think so.”

The Romanian coach added, “The two teams qualified for the finals and deserved to be in the tournament. We are ready to participate, and our goal is to qualify for the knockout rounds.”

Marinika explained, “The Egypt national team is a wonderful team, with excellent players. We are seeking to play a good match against Egypt. I am looking forward to achieving a positive result.”

The Zimbabwe national team coach stressed, “Our list includes 7 injured players, and there are doubts about the participation of some of them against Egypt.”

Marinika confirmed, “The group is difficult. We have to deal with 3 matches in 7 days. We were planning for all the players to attend two weeks before the start of the tournament, but the decision of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) to have the players join just one week before caused us a crisis.”

He pointed out, “We wanted to play some friendly matches, but the delay in the players joining the camp prevented that.” We want to apply what we trained on during the matches, to provide the best performance in this group, and this will lead us to good results.”

He continued, “We feel confident and it is up to the players to represent Zimbabwe in the best way possible. We will give everything, play as one team and support each other. We must strongly defend our country’s shirt.”

Marinika concluded his statements by saying, “Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush are a distinguished duo, but if we were afraid, we would have had to stay in our country.” We know the quality of the Egyptian national team, and Salah is one of the distinguished players. We think about our opponent as a team, more than we think about individuals.”