Marinica’s Zimbabwe Fall 3-1 To Algeria in Tough First Outing

Zimbabwe’s new head coach, Marian Marinica, endured a difficult debut on Thursday evening as the Warriors slumped to a 3–1 defeat to Algeria in an international friendly played at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Algeria took control of the match almost immediately, dictating possession and pushing the Warriors deep into their own half. Although the Fennecs were initially limited to half-chances, their sustained pressure eventually paid off. Baghdad Bounedjah opened the scoring midway through the first half, finishing off a swift counter-attack that exposed Zimbabwe’s defensive shape.

Zimbabwe struggled to regain composure, and Algeria capitalised again in the 41st minute. A fluid passing move sliced through the Warriors’ midfield before Mohamed Amoura weaved past two defenders and calmly placed his shot beyond the goalkeeper to double the advantage.

Just four minutes later, Jaouen Hadjam punished another lapse at the back, drilling home Algeria’s third to send the North Africans into the break with a comfortable 3–0 lead.

Marinica responded by making several changes at the start of the second half, introducing Tawanda Chirewa, Prosper Padera, Godknows Murwira and Prince Dube in search of control and attacking rhythm. The substitutions brought a slight improvement in tempo but did little to trouble the disciplined Algerian defence.

Zimbabwe’s breakthrough finally came in the 86th minute when Chirewa was brought down inside the area. The midfielder stepped up to convert the resulting penalty, marking his first senior goal for the national team. However, the late strike served only as consolation, with Algeria comfortably seeing out the remainder of the match to extend their unbeaten run against the Warriors.

Despite the defeat, the match provided Marinica with an early assessment of his squad ahead of their next assignment. The Warriors are scheduled to travel to Doha, Qatar, where they will face another international friendly on Monday as preparations for upcoming competitive fixtures continue.