The Young Warriors face a huge test when they host Cameroon on Sunday at the National Sports Stadium in the second round qualifier of the 2017 Under-20 Africa Cup of Nations.

 Zimbabwe will host the first leg before they travel to West Africa on June 10 for the return leg with the winner progressing for the final qualifier round in a bid for a place at next year’s youth tournament set for Zambia.

Jairosi Tapera charges beat Botswana 2-1 on aggregate in the first round.

But the Young Warriors face a tougher opposition this time around and Tapera had wanted to have thorough preparations ahead of the weekend’s match and had proposed a friendly match against Zambia or South Africa – but this did not materialise.

However, with ZIFA operating on a shoestring budget with all the national teams congested with important fixtures the Young Warriors will have to make do with a three days’ training camp.

Some of the Young Warriors who featured in the previous match are Dynamos defender Peace Makaha and Bukhosi Sibanda who were on target in the 2-0 away victory against Botswana.

Cameroon believe Zimbabwe have an upper hand going into Saturday’s match with communications manager Albert Njie Mbonde adding the West Africans want to revenge for their Under-23 loss.

“We were eliminated by the Under-23 team of Zimbabwe so coming to the Under-20 team we know they should be even better prepared

“We have a new team, new players and we know Zimbabwe should have a better team than ours and will be playing like a team because they have played Botswana before so they have played at least two international fixtures before now, so we think that is a better advantage for them.

“But for us the essential is first of all get these boys familiar to big level completion, international games because in the end the main issue is getting players who can integrate with the senior squad, you remember that Cameroon would be hosting the 2019 Cup of Nations so we start building that from now,” said Mbomde.

Despite this being the West African’s first competitive match this year, Cameroon have been in camp for the last three months and they know a positive result away will give them enough confidence in front of their home fans in the return leg.

As part of their preparations Cameroon have played Ghana (lost 0-1), Burkina Faso (drew 2-2) and beat Morocco 1-0.

“So it is important to get a result before the return leg at home and we trade with much seriousness because in Cameroon everybody wants a win. We always try to build a winning culture in our players so we take the match seriously even if we know it is going to be a tough match for us.

“A draw wouldn’t be a bad score but in Cameroon we don’t train players to play draws but to win.”