Zimbabwe senior men’s football team captain Willard Katsande says there is no room for slackening when the Warriors take on Tunisia in a must win Gabon 2017 African Cup of Nations Group B final match on Monday.

Katsande said the Warriors must rectify mistakes that they made in the first two games against Algeria and Senegal in which they conceded very early in the first half.

“We should not be chasing the game all the time. We must have a situation where we go to halftime without conceding a goal. This is a game we should win at all costs because it determines whether we continue with the tournament or we return home,” said Katsande.

The midfield enforcer who had a rather subdued game against Senegal, still believes Zimbabwe have a chance to progress beyond the group stages.

“The chance is there for us, what we just need to do is to make sure that we beat Tunisia convincingly. We should not continue to mourn over the defeat to Senegal because it’s now water under the bridge. Although we were beaten, we noted some positives that we are going to build on and put into effect against Tunisia. Fans back home should not lose hope.”

The Warriors had a reality check on Thursday night when Senegal threatened to run riot scoring two early goals before failing to convert numerous chances due to lack of precision and also largely to the brilliance of Zimbabwean keeper Tatenda Mukuruva.  

Zimbabwe had raised expectations with a brilliant performance in the 2-2 draw against Algeria. 

The Warriors now need to beat Tunisia and hope that Algeria lose or draw against Senegal who have already qualified to the next round. Should Algeria, who have performed below expectations so far win, Zimbabwe would have to beat Tunisia by a wider margin to progress on superior goals rule.