WARRIORS coach Kalisto Pasuwa has called for an early start to preparations for the African Nations Championship (CHAN) tournament to be held in Rwanda in January next year.
BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA
The draw for the biennial soccer tournament was conducted in Kigali on Sunday with Zimbabwe drawn in a tough Group D that also has neighbours Zambia, Mali and Uganda.
But Pasuwa, who was part of the technical team that qualified Zimbabwe to the semi-finals of the last edition of the tournament in South Africa, believes what is critical is adequate preparations than worrying about the opponents.
He stressed that thorough preparations were vital.
“Preparations are always key to success. We would have wanted to start training at the latest by December 7, but I am not sure whether we will be able to get as much time as we want in camp,” he said.
“Preparations are very important. We can talk and analyse who we are going to play against, but the most important thing is for us to prepare well. Football has changed a lot. Look at how Swaziland performed against Nigeria or even Comoros against Ghana. No team is easy anymore.”
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Pasuwa is worried that with so much attention on the Zifa elections that will be held on December 5, no arrangements will be made for his squad to go into camp.
“We have not done enough in terms of preparations of late, but we have been getting away with it. It’s dangerous. One day it will catch up with us if we do not take preparations seriously,” Pasuwa said.
Warriors’ team manager Sharriff Mussa believes the draw is a fair one. “Our group is not that tough. We avoided big guns like Nigeria and Ivory Coast besides the hosts, Rwanda. In Africa now, there are no big or small teams. I was with Zimbabwe in the previous two editions and we will go and complete what we started before. I believe the Confederation of African Football helps players to develop with such tournaments. CHAN is a great chance for African talent to show their skills,” Mussa told Cafonline.com
A total of 16 teams were drawn in four groups with Zimbabwe one of the seeded teams. The Warriors have qualified for every edition of the CHAN tournament since its inauguration in 2009. They also appeared in 2011 and 2014 where they reached the semi-finals in South Africa, their first time to advance to the last four in the history of the competition.
The Warriors qualified for the tournament to be held in Rwanda in January next year, after overcoming Lesotho 4-2 on aggregate.
The tournament, which is designed exclusively for the home-based players, gets underway from January 16 running through to February 7, 2016.
Group A fixtures will take place at the Amahoro Stadium in Kigali, Group B in Butare, Group C at the Nyamirambo Stadium, also in Kigali, while Gisenyi will host Group D.
Libya were crowned CHAN winners in the last edition, which took place in South Africa, but have failed to qualify for the latest edition.
Group A: Rwanda, Gabon, Morocco, Ivory Coast
Group B: DR Congo, Angola, Cameroon, Ethiopia
Group C: Tunisia, Nigeria Niger, Guinea
Group D: Zimbabwe, Mali, Uganda, Zambia
