Currently without a victory in eight months, Zimbabwe will set out in search of a return to winning ways in Friday's friendly clash against Burkina Faso at Stade El Bachir.
Zimbabwe played out a 1-1 draw versus the Super Eagles of Nigeria in their most recent outing back in March, while Burkina Faso fell to a 2-0 defeat against Tunisia on Monday.
Match preview
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After going unbeaten across their opening four Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, which saw them pick up eight points, Zimbabwe managed just one point from the final six available following a 1-1 draw and a 2-1 defeat against Kenya and Cameroon respectively back in November to close out 2024.
Nonetheless, Michael Nees's men had done enough to secure second place in Group F and, consequently, a place in December's continental event, marking their return to AFCON for the first time in four years.
The Warriors shifted their focus to World Cup qualifying duty, where they had managed just two points from four matches and were in need of a lift heading into their clashes against Benin and Nigeria earlier this year.
However, Zimbabwe's hopes of securing a first-ever World Cup ticket have now been further jeopardised following back-to-back stalemates in the aforementioned games, leaving them bottom of their group with four matches left to play.
Since comprehensively beating Namibia 3-1 in October, Zimbabwe are now without a win in six matches across all competitions, with half of them ending in defeat, ahead of Friday's trip to Mohammedia.
In that time, Zimbabwe have conceded twice as many goals (10) as they have scored (five) and have significant improvement to make at both ends of the pitch to spark a revival over the next couple of months.
Lying in wait for the South Africans next is an opposing outfit who have recorded just one win in five previous encounters, losing three, although it is worth noting that the solitary victory came in the most recent clash, which was, however, four years ago.
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Like Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso are also AFCON-bound later this year in December, courtesy of a second-place finish in Group L of the qualifying phase behind Senegal with 10 points from six outings.
The last of those six qualifiers was a disappointing 3-0 defeat at the hands of Malawi, but Brama Traore's men went unbeaten in seven of the subsequent eight involvements prior to Monday's friendly against Tunisia.
Edmond Tapsoba suffered the agony of putting the ball past his goalkeeper on the hour mark before Hazem Mastouri came off the bench to put the result beyond any reasonable doubt in second-half stoppage time.
Burkina Faso saw their streak of finding the back of the net in six matches on the bounce come to an end last time out, while they also conceded more than once in a game for the first time since November.
The West Africans will now aim to get themselves back to winning ways in their final outing before resuming World Cup qualifying duty in September with crunch matches against Djibouti first and then Egypt.
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Team News
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Nantes forward Tino Kadewere returned from a long-term injury in the final knockings of last season and is unsurprisingly back in contention for Zimbabwe.
Khama Billiat is expected to record his 58th international cap, which would see him stand alone as his country's third-most featured player of all time.
Following his appearance against Tunisia, Herve Koffi is now up to 62 caps and is on the verge of breaking into Burkina Faso's top 10 for matches played.
Forward Bertrand Traore had to settle for a place on the bench last time out but could return to the starting lineup here at the expense of Hassane Bande.
Zimbabwe possible starting lineup:
Arubi; Takwara, Garananga, Jalai, Hadebe; Msebe, Hachiro; Musona, Dube, Billiat; Kadewere
Burkina Faso possible starting lineup:
Koffi; Kouassi, Tapsoba, Nagalo, Kabore; Simpore, Dao, Tiendrebeogo; Irie, Konate, Traore
We say: Zimbabwe 1-2 Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso have been the more in-form side heading into Friday's game and will back themselves to come out on top despite their most recent defeat.
We are tipping them to narrowly edge what should be a keenly contested affair.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Adepoju Marvellous
