WARRIORS’ coach Calisto Pasuwa believes they will play with more confidence against Senegal after holding Algeria 2-2 at the Stade de Franceville on Sunday.

Zimbabwe hadn’t been given a chance going into their opening Group B match of the Afcon finals in Gabon, but defied the odds and could have won had they put away all their chances.

Senegal beat Tunisia 2-0 in the other Group B game. Pasuwa said they need to perfect their act and get a result against Senegal to keep their hopes of progressing to the knockout stages alive.

“If you defend for a long time, you end up making mistakes, hence you saw us conceding so many corner kicks in a few minutes. But again the good thing is that we got a point,” said Pasuwa.

“I think a point is better. I think this will motivate the boys to do a little better in their next game. We didn’t come here to add to the numbers and I even said so when we were in our meeting. We had problems, but when they were solved, we came here to do business,” he said.

Goals from Kuda Mahachi and Nyasha Mushekwi earned the Warriors a point, while Riyad Mahrez’s brace saved Algeria the blushes.

“In the first half, we were very offensive and we missed too many chances. Had we put away those chances, we could have buried them. In the second half we sat too deep and we conceded the equaliser. Yes, we lost two points because we wanted all three points.

“We are planning for Senegal now and remember they are very physical. They are one of the best teams in Africa. We saw our weaknesses when we played this game and we also saw our strengths. We have to utilise our strengths and build on that strength going forward. We will work on our weaknesses at training for the next game,” Pasuwa said.

He said Knowledge Musona’s injury early in the match shredded their plans, as he was forced to introduce Matthew Rusike.

“As you know Musona has been one of our regular players scoring goals. I heard it is a hamstring, but I don’t know how serious it is. We will hear from the doctors. But pulling him out in the early stages of the game was something else when we look at how we had planned,” said Pasuwa.

Soon after the Desert Foxes of Algeria had levelled the scores, substitute Cuthbert Malajila could have changed the situation, but selfishness got the better of him when he decided to go for glory from a tight angle instead of passing the ball to the unmarked Kuda Mahachi.

“In football at this level, you need to take your chances. It’s one of those chances that we missed. And there were so many chances that we missed also. We need to bury chances when we get them,” Pasuwa said. – state media