The Zimbabwe national team coach has revealed his thoughts on facing Bafana Bafana in both the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
Bafana Bafana and Zimbabwe are guaranteed to meet on two occasions in 2025. First, the two neighbours will lock horns on 6 October in matchday 9 of the World Cup qualifiers, with Zimbabwe already confirmed as the home team for that fixture.
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After that, they will meet again in the group stages of AFCON 2025 in Morocco after being drawn in the same group alongside Egypt and Angola.
Zimbabwe's head coach, Michael Nees, who previously worked as an Education Officer at SAFA, has now opened up about his upcoming meetings with Bafana Bafana.
"I think there are no secrets among the three COSAFA teams," he told Zimbabwean newspaper Sunday Mail.
"Of course, I know South Africa very well, from a personal point of view and also from a professional point of view.
"We play against them in a World Cup qualifier in October, then two months later at the AFCON.
"But knowing them doesn't automatically mean acting, and acting doesn't mean automatically being successful. It's not an automatic chain.
"I know a little bit more about the mentality of South Africa, but it's a challenging group."
Nees also spoke about the threat posed by Egypt, adding: "Egypt, currently ranked third in Africa, record champions, and they have maybe the best player in the English Premier League, Mohamed Salah.
"Then maybe one of the most promising strikers in Europe, that is Omar Marmoush, plus many other good players.
"We will expect the best Egypt; they don't leave anything to chance. It's not by accident they were seeded top."
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By Lukhanyo Mtuta
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