By Steve Vickers BBC Sport Online, Harare

Zimbabwe's new national coach Sunday Marimo says leading the country to the next African Nations Cup in 2004 is his target.

Zimbabwe has never participated in Africa's premier football event.

Marimo, who has begun his new duties, is holding his first training camp ahead of two friendly games against the Malawian national team.

Matches are also being lined up with Kuwait and Algeria before the Warriors start their Nations Cup qualifying campaign in September.

Marimo has included many uncapped players in his current squad and hopes that he will have enough time to build a strong team.

"We need to have midweek camps for the national team every week from the end of July to prepare the team properly," he said.

But the availability of players will be a problem for Marimo.

League clubs are reluctant to release players, due to the congested fixture list that includes several midweek matches.

He is also likely to face difficulties in calling foreign-based players for non-competitive matches.

Marimo took over as national coach from Wieslaw Grabowski, who was sacked after just one game in charge.

Zimbabwe's success-starved fans have high expectations, something that Marimo is aware of.

"People want to see results, but it's not a difficult job - it can be done."