WARRIORS coach Kalisto Pasuwa (pictured) has highlighted the defence department as an area of concern and wants an improvement if the team is to achieve good results at the impending Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Gabon.
BY HENRY MHARA
Zimbabwe kick off their preparations for the January tournament with a friendly match against neighbours Zambia at the National Sports Stadium this evening.
Only local-based players have been called up for this matchKickoff is 4pm.
After the Zambia match, Zimbabwe will host Tanzania next week before travelling to Abidjan to face Ivory Coast on Boxing Day.
They are set to conclude their preps with a match against Egypt. It is in those matches that Pasuwa will fine-tune his squad, with particular attention to the defence.
When asked which areas of the team need to be improved before the tournament, Pasuwa said: “It is the players’ cohesion, but maybe it is because of the short period we were in camp (for the qualifiers). We would meet for only a day or two, which I think is not enough in terms of player combinations. We tend to lose the ball cheaply, but at this level of the game the players need to keep the ball away from the opponents as much as possible because if they are not comfortable with possession, then we would be in trouble. That is one area we will be working on.”
He added, “Then we are also working on our defence. Most of the foreign-based players are forwards and it’s at the back where we have been coming short. We will use these friendlies to look at the locals to see who can fit into our system. The only way we can see that is through these friendly matches.”
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Pasuwa admitted the injury to central defender Elisha Muroiwa, who played most of the games in the qualifiers, was giving him sleepless nights. “That position is very critical, it’s not easy to get a new centre-back and then play him at such a big stage just like that. We need someone who we can trust to do the job. We want to have depth in that area.”
He said he would not tinker much with the squad that helped the team qualify for the finals, but said the door was still open for new players. One such player who could be given a chance is England-based rightback Tendayi Darikwa who Pasuwa is keen to rope in to strengthen the backline.
“We are not closing doors to anyone. As long as you are Zimbabwean and you have a Zimbabwe passport, we will consider you. But I will not change the whole team because we are going to Afcon. We know areas that need to be corrected as coaches. We want to come up with a very good and strong squad for the tournament. Everyone needs to prove himself that he is good enough to play at Afcon.”
