ZIMBABWE captain Knowledge Musona says his Warriors are relishing the massive challenge of taking on hosts, and favourites, Egypt in the first match of the AFCON finals to show the world how far they have evolved, in the past few years, into a very competitive team.

The talismanic skipper even believes his men can make history at this Nations Cup finals. There has been concern, among some of their fans, that the Warriors have been handed the ultimate toughest assignment where, a comprehensive defeat at the hands of the Pharaohs, could crush their confidence and signal the beginning of the end of their campaign.

The Warriors have never had it easy in the opening match of the Nations Cup finals as they have played the Pharaohs in 2004, Senegal in 2006, Algeria in 2017 and now the same Egyptians in this tournament which gets underway here on Friday night.

They have lost two of those three matches — all those matches, going down 1-2 to the Pharaohs in Tunisia, 2-0 to the Lions of Teranga of Senegal here in 2006 and holding the Desert Foxes of Algeria to a 2-2 draw in Gabon two years ago.

Musona believes his men could not have wished for a better opening match than one against the Pharaohs with the whole world watching.
“If the confidence that I have as the team captain, and also the confidence I have from the players, I think that we can go past the group stages,’’ he told The Herald in an in-depth interview on Sunday.

“It doesn’t matter whom we play in the first game, we know it’s going to be a big game, strong opponents, opening game and they almost never lose at home, we know it’s a tough game.

“But, we are also ready, as underdogs, to show the country, and the world, that we are not here to just make up the numbers but to fight and show what we are capable of.’’State media