Zimbabwe suffered their first loss in the 2025 Afcon Qualifiers Group J after going down 2-1 to Cameroon on Tuesday.

The Warriors lost their final Group J encounter despite a spirited second half performance.

The Indomitable Lions dominated the early pace and created a couple of chances through Frank Magri and captain Vincent Aboubakar.

The hosts’ dominance continued through into the second quarter hour and they finally opened the scoring on minute 18 courtesy of Aboubakar’s fine effort.

Kevin Nkoudou doubled the lead five minutes later as Zimbabwe’s shaky defence failed to cope with the mounting pressure.

The Warriors only started coming out of their shell after the half hour mark with Khama Billiat missing from an unmissable position.

The visitors continued to create more meaningful chances in the second half, with substitute Terrence Dzvukamanja scoring in the 73rd minute to pull one back.

The SuperSport United striker could have secured the equaliser eight minutes later but was denied by the post.

Billiat also had a glorious chance coming his way after catching Andre Onana off his line later on but his long-range effort went inches over.

Dzvukamanja found the back of the net again in the added time, but this time the effort was controversially ruled out for an offside.

Cameroon, on the other end, registered a couple of chances but Arubi delivered some great saves to deny them a third goal.

The match ended with no more goals as the Indomitable Lions win the group with 14 points, while the Warriors follow in second with nine.

Kenya, who played a goalless draw against bottom-placed Namibia on Tuesday, take the third place.