Warriors coach Joey Antipas says his charges put a spirited performance despite the distractions on the eve of the match against Lesotho on Sunday.
Zimbabwe beat the Crocodiles 3-1 on aggregate to book a place at next’s CHAN finals set for Cameroon.
According to the Chronicle, on the eve of the game, the hotel where the Warriors were staying held a gig which ended at 5 am, playing extremely loud music.
Speaking after the game, the coach said: “We knew that Lesotho were going to come at us, which they did, but found our defence resolute.
“Credit to the boys for sticking to a good game plan and fighting all the way. The boys didn’t let pre-match mind games distract them and gave a good account.”
The team only needed a draw in the Sunday’s reverse fixture to progress through and Antipas approached the game with a defensive tactic in mind.
“What we came for was a ticket to Chan and I’m happy we did it. We played a low tempo game, held back, didn’t go full throttle, but wanted to catch them on the counter,” he said.