Warriors defender Jordan Zemura has defended coach Michael Nees after Zimbabwe’s 1-0 defeat to Lesotho in their final 2026 World Cup qualifier, saying players—not the coach—must take responsibility for the team’s failures.
Despite dominating and creating numerous chances, Zimbabwe conceded in the final minute and ended the campaign bottom of Group C with no wins and five points from 10 games. Zemura admitted the squad failed to convert opportunities, stressing that the blame lies with the players’ execution, not Nees’ tactics.
The Udinese full-back urged his teammates to “push harder” and believe in their ability, noting that the team has enough quality to compete if they transform potential into results. Looking ahead to AFCON 2025, Zemura said the Warriors must learn from the qualifiers, raise their standards, and stop relying on the old “fighting spirit” narrative—insisting it’s time to deliver real performances that make the nation proud.
With stinging criticism directed at Nees coming from everywhere, Zemura leaped to his defence, instead accepting to take the blame of his behalf.
“As a player, I think there should be nothing about the coach in these situations,” said Zemura.
“It’s nothing to do with the coach, why is the coach to blame here?
“You saw the game, the fans watched the game. You have 15 chances in front of the goal and you have to go and score. You’re not going to point at the coach for why we didn’t score.
“As a player, you have to take responsibility. You have to drive the level higher.
“I’m coming more away from the Serie A and I know where, as players, we need to take the blame.
“We need to push each other as players to try as hard as we can. We’ve got players coming from the (English) Premier League, pushing and we all need to push harder.
“It’s nothing to do with the coach in this situation. If the fans want to point at anyone, they should point at the players.
“It’s nothing to do with the coach or the coaching staff.
“Today or another day, we score two, three goals and then you’ll be asking different questions.
“There’s nothing to do with the coach for that one. The players have to take responsibility.”
Zemura said Zimbabwe have the potential and can perform wonders in the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations if they can start thinking before the “Warriors go down fighting syndrome.”
He said:
“I think some of us and many others have been around for a significant period now. We can’t always talk about the potential we have but rather now converting the potential into reality.
“We have so many quality players in our ranks. We can match any opponent if we focus.
“This is the time to do so. The World Cup qualification is now behind us. We take the lessons learnt and try to perfect the positives picked. Now we should really look at ourselves and start believing in our capabilities. We really have good quality and we should never put the handbrake on.
“This is the message we are now sharing as players so that we don’t always disappoint the nation.”