Highlanders coach Elroy Akbay is impressed with the squad that he has inherited from his assistants Amini Soma-Phiri and Cosmas Zulu, which he will present to the club’s administration this afternoon.
BY FORTUNE MBELE
The Highlanders technical team will meet with the club executive committee this afternoon to present the final 30-member squad for the 2016 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League campaign.
Akbay said the club will be aiming to challenge for the main prize this term.
Elroy Akbay[/Caption]
In his first match in charge, Akbay’s team beat Botswana side Gilport Lions 2-1 in the Royal Cup on Sunday, as Highlanders launched their 90th anniversary celebrations at Barbourfields Stadium.
Bidvest Wits-bound Knox Mutizwa and young Prince Dube were on target for Bosso.
Club chief executive officer, Ndumiso Gumede yesterday confirmed the meeting.
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“The coaches are meeting with the executive committee tomorrow (today) to present their squad and tell the executive committee,” he said.
“They will inform the executive whom they are willing to take on board, on who is going and whom they wish to loan out.”
Akbay, who started work officially at Highlanders last week after arriving in the country a week earlier had watched the training sessions on the sidelines, said they will announce the 2016 squad on Monday after meeting with his bosses.
He presided over the team’s training sessions last week and said he was impressed with what assistant Soma-Phiri and technical adviser Cosmas “Tsano” Zulu had done in his absence, while he waited for the Immigration Department to issue him a permit.
“They [Soma-Phiri and Zulu] have done a very good job. We have five or six new guys in our squad,” Akbay said.
“Highlanders is a big club. When a club is big, they have to always aim for the championship. If you ask Barcelona what they want for next year, they will tell you they want the championship, but if you ask (Deportivo) La Coruña, they will say position five, six or top eight. I want to win everything, but first, I have to check how my team is doing in relation to my system of play.”
After losing Obidiah Tarumbwa, Nqobizitha Masuku and Teenage Hadebe, Highlanders did not make any big acquisitions, but have opted to rely on tapping from their lower division side and juniors.
Senior players retained from last year’s squad include goalkeepers Ariel Sibanda and Njabulo Nyoni, skipper Felex Chindungwe, Bruce Kangwa, Webster Chingodza, Erick Mudzingwa, Tendai Ngulube, Simon Munawa, Douglas Sibanda, Mutizwa, Gabriel Nyoni and Rahman Kutsanzira.
Ralph Matema, who returned from South Africa to rejoin Highlanders in the second half of the season, is also one of the players at the club.
