WARRIORS coach Ian Gorowa has called up a number of new faces as he prepares for the international friendly football match against Mozambique at Barbourfields Stadium on Sunday.
BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA
The Zimbabwe coach has already lost Premier Soccer League top goalscorer Tendai Ndoro to the Premiership in South Africa where he is set to complete his move to Mpumalanga Black Aces.
He will also be without midfielder Devon Chafa, who was banned for six months by Fifa after failing a doping test and will not be available for the 2014 African Nations Championships (Chan) finals in South Africa next January.
But the former Moroka Swallows and Sundowns coach appears to have been following the progress of several players with such players as Triangle’s Pasca Manhanga, Nqobizitha Khumalo and Wonder Kamupinda being called up.
Warriors assistant coach Kalisto Pasuwa said they called up a number of new faces to assess them as they seek to come up with a strong team for the Chan finals.
Pasuwa said while they were taking the friendly match against Mozambique seriously, they would use it to assess the players in preparation for the Chan tournament.
“We are taking this friendly seriously,” Pasuwa said. “We need a win like in any other game, but our major objective is to assess the players we have called up as we prepare for the Chan tournament.
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“If you look at the squad we have, there are a number of new players, some of them have not been playing regularly, but the overall objective is to have an assessment of those players because we will then pick up the team that will do duty in South Africa from this group of players.”
The Warriors assistant coach said after the friendly against Mozambique, they would return to Harare and start preparations for the Chan tournament. But before that, they would deliberate with Zifa on whether to play Libya in another match on December 13 or, if finances allow, head to Johannesburg for a 20-day training camp.
The Dynamos duo of George Chigova and Patson Jaure, Highlanders’ Bruce Kangwa and Munyaradzi Diya, Harare City’s Silas Songani, Hardlife Zvirekwi from Caps United and the Chicken Inn trio of Danny Phiri, Felix Chindungwe and Kuda Mahachi were also named in the squad.
Mozambique are set to fly directly to Bulawayo tomorrow.
Zimbabwe, who have qualified for the biennial tournament since its inauguration four years ago, have failed to progress to the knockout stages in all their appearances in Ivory Coast and Sudan.
They are in Group B together with Burkina Faso, Morocco and Uganda.
The Warriors, who went into camp last night, are scheduled to travel to Bulawayo today. They will be using Barbourfields and White City Stadium for their training.
Squad: M Diya, G Chigova, W Kamupinda, H Zvirekwi, T Ndlovu, G Ndlovu, F Chindungwe, P Jaure, M Ncube, N Khumalo, C Hungwe, D Phiri, F Bushire, S Songani, L Chiwunga, N Siwela, P Manhanga, W Dube, K Mahachi, A Sadiki, B Kangwa, M Mburayi, S Sithole, S Sithole.
