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Warriors woes mount

Sport
THE Warriors lost another day of training yesterday as some of the players were still trooping into camp ahead of the showdown against the Comoros in a preliminary round first leg of the African Championship football qualifier at Rufaro Stadium on Sunday.

THE Warriors lost another day of training yesterday as some of the players were still trooping into camp ahead of the showdown against the Comoros in a preliminary round first leg of the African Championship football qualifier at Rufaro Stadium on Sunday.

BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA

This means that if they finally begin training today, the team will only have two days of training, which is today and tomorrow.

Nation Dube, who is one of Kalisto Pasuwa’s assistants in the Warriors technical team set-up, was still holed up in Hwange alongside strikers Pritchard Mpelele, Evans Rusike and goalkeeper Takabva Mawaya. However, Dube said they would arrive in Harare in the evening with the team expected to start training this morning.

“We are still here in Hwange with some players and should be in Harare in the evening. The players have been trying to secure funds to travel to Harare and now they are on their way. I understand training will start tomorrow, but the head coach has the programme,” said Dube.

Pasuwa, who pulled off a 2-1 victory over the Flames of Malawi in an African Cup of Nations qualifier at Kamuzu Stadium on Saturday, had been expecting all players to be in camp by Monday with training set to resume the following day.

But, as has become the norm with the Warriors preparations, players failed to resume training on Tuesday as the coach was still to sort out issues to do with his outstanding payments.

Pasuwa’s manager Gibson Mahachi spent the whole of Tuesday locked up in meetings with the Zifa leadership in a bid to find common ground over the outstanding dues since the coach was given the mandate to lead the Warriors. The issue was eventually settled with Zifa undertaking to pay his dues by month end after which a contract effective July 1 would be signed.

Following the agreement between Pasuwa’s handlers and his employers, the team was expected to resume training yesterday, but failed to kickstart preparations again as players were still travelling from their bases. Pasuwa has named an enlarged 26-member squad comprising mostly the Under-23 players who played in the All-Africa Games qualifiers and in the Under-23 African Championship qualifiers. Some of them also played at the Cosafa tournament in South Africa recently.

The players who were part of the squad that beat Malawi are Blessing Moyo, Tatenda Mukuruva, Bernard Donovan, Ronald Pfumbidzai, Gerald Takwara, Danny Phiri, Teenage Hadebe and Justice Jangano.

FC Platinum’s Marshall Mudehwe, Hwange’s Mpelele, Ronald Chitiyo and Danny Phiri, who was captain of the side played at the Cosafa tournament in South Africa. The tournament to be held in Rwanda features only players playing in their local leagues.

Zimbabwe have done well at the tournament making it to the semi-finals of the 2014 edition held in South Africa before losing to eventual champions Libya having qualified for the last two editions of the Chan tournament under different coaches.

In 2009, ZPC Kariba coach Sunday Chidzambwa took them to the Ivory Coast while Madinda Ndlovu led them in Sudan in 2011.