The Warriors would feel that they had a chance to beat Lesotho in their 2026 World Cup qualifier at Orlando Stadium last Friday.
Yes, they had.
They even had the majority of the ball and territory as well. They won the second ball, had the most shots at goal and created more scoring chances than their opponents.
Jairos Tapera's men always looked threatening, coming on top of most of the situations.
It really didn't matter that they were a relatively new team with a handful of players, who were participating for the first time at this level of the game.
Zimbabwe enjoyed support from the stands as thousands turned up to cheer them up.
Several local football administrators, including CAPS United and Simba Bhora presidents Farai Jere and Simba Ndoro travelled to watch the game, as did some locally-based players who are not part of the team here like Herentals' Tino Benza and Temptation Chiwunga of Dynamos.
But all that did nothing to help the Warriors across the line.
The Zimbabweans looked hungry. No doubt about that.
In the opening quarter of an hour, Tino Kadewere, a victim of "armchair critics" over the past weeks, took the driver's seat, initiating effective play in the final third.
He was ably complemented by Jordan Zemura, who occupied the left-wing in Tapera's 4-3-3 structure.
The team won three free-kicks inside the opening 20 minutes from the edge of the box.
But they got nothing from those set-plays as Lesotho defenders came out on top. They literally played into the Crocodiles' hands.
The wing-play Tapera sought to use was detected and effectively dealt with.
And Lesotho coach Leslie Notsi acknowledged that Zimbabwe were good, but made a calamitous error by trying to throw everything in attack, only to leave some unpatched holes behind.
"The match was a very tight encounter like we had expected. We were playing one of the best teams in our region. We knew that they would come strong especially on the wings and that's what happened," said Notsi.
"But we had also prepared ourselves well in terms of how to keep the tactical discipline. The expectation was, in the first 15, 20 minutes they would come strong and when they come strong, we should capitalise on the spaces they left behind and it came out that way."
While the Warriors had the most chances, including three free-kicks on the edge of the box, all taken by Andrew Mbeba, Lesotho made the most out of theirs. They won the first corner of the game, literally from nothing, with 20 minutes on the clock and unlike the Warriors, they made the most out of that set-piece, thanks in part for goalkeeper Donovan Bernard's lackadaisical reaction, failing to cut the ball, and Zimbabwe got punished.
It looked like a minor setback that Zimbabwe would recover from, judging from the way they were dominating the phases of play.
But just a minute after the half-hour mark, it was looking bad for the Warriors after conceding a second, their defence going to sleep and again Bernard failing to time his move off the line.
What made it even more painful was the fact that one of Zimbabwe's best players in the field, Tawanda Chirewa, had inexplicably hit the crossbar, unmarked inside the box just a minute before Lesotho's second.
The second half was always going to be a tall order, with Zimbabwe trying desperately to salvage it but Lesotho just had to manage the game.
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Perhaps the Warriors underrated and probably disrespected Lesotho, who are yet to lose a game in this campaign as Notsi said.
"We respect their (Warriors) talent, but when you play a smaller team (Lesotho), sometimes you tend not to give it that much respect, you just go, but now not managing certain areas," added Notsi.
"We just had a plan to utilise those smaller spaces, we said let's make sure that we are there when we have the ball.
"Fortunately we were there and managed to get the goals."
Tapera, in a way, agreed with Notsi.
"We got many chances that we thought we could score.
"Defensively, some of these movements need time for the players to understand. We are better off than Lesotho in terms of talent, that much everybody knows. They won because they have been together for a long time. They were decisive in key areas," said Tapera.
