Zimbabwe national team coach Michael Nees has cautioned his charges to expect a tough encounter against Nigeria, stating that the Super Eagles are under pressure to deliver following an indifferent start to their World Cup qualifiers campaign.

The Warriors will take on the three-time African champions at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo on Tuesday, with the two sides desperate for crucial maximum points to consolidate their qualification hopes for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Zimbabwe played out to a 2-2 draw against Benin in their last outing as they came back from two goals down to salvage a point, thanks to goals from Marshall Munetsi and returnee Knowledge Musona.

Meanwhile, Nigeria claimed a 2-0 victory over Rwanda, courtesy of a Victor Osimhen brace in Kigali. Despite an encouraging performance against Gernot Rohr’s formidable side, Nees is wary of the threat posed by a Nigerian side boasting quality players plying their trade in top European leagues and eager to get their campaign back on track.

“Benin was really strong but now Nigeria, you see it’s halfway through the campaign [and] the individual area from their names it’s top class – top class. And they messed up their campaign at the beginning, really hard,” he told ZIFA.

With Eric Chelle’s men off the mark with their first win in the qualifiers, the German mentor believes the morale-boosting result for the star-studded West African nation will inevitably cause his team all sorts of problems but insists they will equally look to thwart any danger.

“This is the third coach now involved in this campaign. They won now in Rwanda, which was always a little bit of a difficult opponent [for them] really,” added Nees, who was appointed in July 2024 in a bid to change the nation’s fortunes.

“So, they will come with all the confidence and all the power to turn this campaign around, so do we. It will be an exciting game; we have to perform to our maximum for sure. We can expect a tough opponent giving everything, but we also have to give everything and we will.” 

Zimbabwe is yet to register a win in the ongoing World Cup qualifiers and currently sits at the bottom of the table with three points accumulated from five matches played in Group C. On the other hand, Nigeria moved up to fourth place with six points – four behind table-toppers South Africa.