Preview: Cameroon vs. Zimbabwe – prediction, team news, lineups

With top spot in Group J of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers still up for grabs, Cameroon and Zimbabwe will do battle at the Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo on Tuesday.
 
The home side are unbeaten in each of their last seven meetings against the visitors, whose last win in this fixture came back in the 1994 World Cup qualifying round of matches.

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Match preview

© Imago
 
Cameroon had to make do with a share of the spoils from their most recent outing against the Warriors of Namibia which ended goalless at the Orlando Stadium on Wednesday evening.
 
Despite being in the ascendancy for large spells of the clash in South Africa, Marc Brys saw his side fail to find the back of the net for only the second time since he took the reins from Rigobert Song back in April.
 
Nonetheless, it remains a more than positive start to life in charge of the Indomitable Lions for 62-year-old Brys, who is still yet to taste defeat after picking up four wins and three draws from his seven games to date.
 
With 11 points on the board from a possible 15, Cameroon currently lead the way in Group J of the qualifiers, two points ahead of Zimbabwe leading up to Tuesday’s meeting in Yaounde and a further four points clear of Kenya in third.
 
Tuesday’s hosts will now set out to preserve their current seven-game unbeaten streak and avoid losing throughout an AFCON qualifying campaign for the first time since 2017, where they recorded four wins and two draws from six games.

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Zimbabwe made a slow start to their qualification journey with back-to-back stalemates against Kenya and Cameroon before getting themselves back on track with six points from a possible six across both of October’s meetings against Namibia.
 
Michael Nees‘s men took on local rivals Kenya in their penultimate matchup on Friday afternoon, knowing that they only needed to avoid defeat to secure a spot in next year’s continental showpiece in Morocco.
 
The Warriors headed into the locker room with a narrow advantage provided by Tawanda Maswanhise‘s opener just past the half-hour mark before Jonah Ayunga restored parity in the early exchanges of the second period.
 
Zimbabwe are one of 11 teams without defeat in the AFCON qualifiers after the first five rounds of matches and could become one of only two current group runners-up to achieve this feat alongside Comoros.
 
However, Tuesday’s visitors will have it all to do in their final encounter given their woeful record away from home in competitive matches excluding major tournaments which has yielded just one win since March 2021.
 

Cameroon Africa Cup of Nations Qualifying form:

Cameroon form (all competitions):

Zimbabwe Africa Cup of Nations Qualifying form:

Zimbabwe form (all competitions):

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Team News

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Nicolas Ngamaleu and Yvan Neyou were both hauled off with respective injury scares against Namibia last time out, making their involvement for Cameroon here currently uncertain.
 
Should any of the aforementioned players be deemed unfit to participate, Georges-Kevin N’Koudou and Jean-Charles Castelletto will be the favourites to come into the hosts’ lineup.
 
Skipper Vincent Aboubakar failed to close in on Roger Milla in second place of his nation’s all-time scoring table but is now up to 107 international caps.
 
Following his strike against Kenya, Tawanda Maswanhise has now opened his account for Zimbabwe to make it four goals in his last four matches for club and country.
 
Gerald Takwara could see his streak of having started all five AFCON qualifiers come to an end here after the 30-year-old was forced off with an injury last time out.

Cameroon possible starting lineup:
Onana; Tolo, Wooh, Ngadeu, Tchatchoua; Hongla; Bassogog, Magri, Neyou, N’Koudou; Aboubakar

Zimbabwe possible starting lineup:
Arubi; Zemura, Hadebe, Godknows, Garananga; Rinomhota, Nakamba; Maswanhise, Munetsi, Musona; Billiat

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We say: Cameroon 2-1 Zimbabwe

Both teams have given a good account of themselves over the last couple of matches, and Tuesday’s encounter could really swing either way.
 
That said, we are backing the home side to emerge triumphant at the sound of the full-time whistle.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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