The Zimbabwe U20 national team will begin their campaign in the Afcon U20 COSAFA Qualifier today.

The Young Warriors will play Botswana in their first Group A game at ABB stadium in Matola, Mozambique at 12 noon.

The encounter will mark the beginning of the tournament which is being hosted in Mozambique.

Zimbabwe coach Simon Marange said ahead of the match: “The boys look good and ready. We have prepared well, we arrived on Tuesday.”

The gaffer added: “We have really good players coming up and they need a stage to show their ability.

“AFCON provides that and it is a big goal for us.”

The Young Warriors squad is made up of several locally-based stars and a few foreign-based players.

The foreign-based players include Crystal Palace’s recent signing Kurainashe Musanhi, Kennedy Mupomba (Chelmsford City FC) and Tanaka Chirera (Bury FC).

The other teams in Group A are hosts Mozambique and Eswatini.

The qualifying tournament will happen from 26 September to 5 October.

The two finalists will advance to the Afcon U20 finals.