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Warriors in limbo

Sport
Warriors’ coach Kalisto Pasuwa’s bid to gather the team for a meaningful international friendly next week is set to falter with Zifa struggling to organise the match.

Warriors’ coach Kalisto Pasuwa’s bid to gather the team for a meaningful international friendly next week is set to falter with Zifa struggling to organise the match.

BY HENRY MHARA

Warriors coach Kalisto Pasuwa (standing right) may be forced to redraw his plans for the team's Afcon preparations
Warriors coach Kalisto Pasuwa (standing right) may be forced to redraw his plans for the team’s Afcon preparations

Pasuwa requested for international friendlies during the two international breaks left in 2016, but the first one could just pass by without any action for the Warriors.

Next week is set aside for the Fifa 2018 World Cup qualifiers which the Warriors are not part of, but Zifa could still organise a friendly match for the Warriors before or after those matches.

Last night, Zifa said that they were still negotiating with various associations to try and organise the important match for Pasuwa’s team which will be participating at the Confederation of African Football Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals taking place between January 14 and February 5 in Gabon next year.

Zimbabwe will contest the continent’s best at the Afcon finals and on Monday they were named as one of the bottom seeds of the tournament draw which takes place on October 19.

The Warriors were placed in pot four, which means they cannot be drawn alongside some of the weaker nations at the tournament that include Uganda, Guinea Bissau and Togo.

They will draw one of Cameroon, Senegal, Morocco and Egypt from pot three, while there is the prospect of being placed in the same pool as Mali, Tunisia, Burkina Faso or Democratic Republic of Congo.

Pot one contains hosts Gabon, holders Ivory Coast, Ghana and Algeria.

To best prepare his team for the tough tournament, Pasuwa requested for friendlies with North or West African nations, but it seems he will not get his wish this time around, with the final international break for 2016 coming in November.

Earlier, reports had suggested that Nigeria, who play Zambia in a 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifier on Sunday, were willing to play the Warriors as well, but it’s unlikely that will happen.

Togo, who have qualified for Afcon, but are out of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, play Mozambique in an international friendly on Sunday.

Zifa communications manager Xolisani Gwesela said: “We are negotiating with quite a number of associations. Nothing is yet to be finalised.”

If no match can be arranged during the two breaks, it would be a blow to Pasuwa’s quest for thorough preparations.

The team may get warm-up matches just before the tournament, but that arrangement on its own is not sufficient for the technical team. The biggest limiting factor for Zifa is lack of funds, which means the mother body will only consider the option of hosting other nations other than travelling.

Because of depleted resources, the team almost failed to fulfil its last fixture in the Group L Afcon 2016 qualifier away to Guinea, at the beginning of this month, only to be bailed out late by a local company which chartered a plane for the team.