National teams General Manager Wellington Mpandare believes the Warriors will eventually take part in the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) 2023 qualifiers.

Zimbabwe is currently suspended from international competitions by FIFA but CAF gave a lifeline by putting the Warriors in the Afcon draw on condition that the sanction is lifted by May 15.

The Warriors were drawn in Group K alongside Morocco, South Africa and Liberia.

Sports Minister Kirsty Coventry called for patience as her adminstration seeks to find solutions to the ZIFA-SRC impasse and Mpandare is confident the former Olympic champion will eventually ensure the Warriors take part in the qualifiers.

“We have so much faith in what the Minister said when she met the portfolio committee. She doesn’t want the athletes to miss any tournament. We have faith that there will be a solution to the impasse,” he said.

“The players are 100% positive that they will participate, CAF raised the stakes when they included us in the draw. We can’t afford to fail ourselves as a nation,” added the former Gunners official.

Asked about last night’s draw, Mpandare said: “It’s a draw that needs us to prepare very well and make sure we have all our best players available. We played South Affica recently and we were missing the bulk of our foreign based players. With Liberia, they are bad travellers but difficult to beat at their home ground.”

“Then Morroco, we just need to beat them at home in fact if we win all our home games and get a point away we good to go thru. The challenge is with our home ground. If we play our home games away then it will be difficult to go through. Otherwise it’s a fair draw,” he added.- Soccer24 Zimbabwe