Warriors Suffer 3-1 Defeat to Algeria as New Coach Marks Debut
New Warriors coach Marian Marinica began his tenure with a 3-1 defeat to Algeria in an international friendly played at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium in Saudi Arabia.
Marinica fielded a starting eleven that featured several new faces, with Gerald Takwara captaining the side.
Algeria dominated from the first whistle and needed only 14 minutes to open the scoring through Bagdad Bounedjah, who fired past goalkeeper Washington Arubi.
The Desert Foxes doubled their advantage in the 40th minute when Mohamed Amoura finished superbly after poor marking by the Zimbabwean defence.
Right on the stroke of halftime, Algerian defender Jaouen Ahjam added a third, again capitalising on Zimbabwe’s weak defense.
At the start of the second half, Marinica made four changes, bringing on Prosper Padera, Tawanda Chirewa, Godknows Murwira, and Prince Dube to substitute Bill Antonio, Sean Fusire, Washington Navaya, and Tawanda Maswanhise.
The substitutions steadied the team, and Zimbabwe began to pose occasional threats going forward.
The Warriors finally found the net in the 86th minute when Chirewa converted a penalty he had won after being fouled in the box.
Despite the 3-1 defeat, Marinica will take some positives, notably helping Zimbabwe end a four-match goal drought, their last goal having come against Niger in a friendly back in June.
Zimbabwe now shifts focus to their next fixture against Qatar on Monday. *NewZW*
