WARRIORS interim coach Wilson Mutekede is confident that his team will recover from their surprise midweek defeat to Lesotho and beat Namibia when the two teams meet in an international friendly, the Hage Geingob Cup, at the Sam Nujoma Stadium in Windhoek, this afternoon.
BY HENRY MHARA
The match kicks off at 3pm Zimbabwe time.
Zimbabwe were shocked 1-0 by minnows Lesotho in Maseru on Wednesday in a friendly match a result that came as a surprise to many.
However, Mutekede has assured the supporters of an improved performance today that will yield a good result.
He blamed the recent defeat to lack of preparation as his squad went straight into action without having conducted a single proper training session.
What made his situation even more complicated is that he had the UK-based quartet of Kundai Benyu, Tendai Darikwa, Macauley Bonne and Admiral Muskwe, who were making their Warriors debut.
But after conducting a full training session yesterday morning at the Yadah Village, where the team was housed on their return from Maseru on Thursday night, Mutekede noticed some positive changes in the team.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
“The training was all about to trying to better the cohesion, understanding and coordination within the guys. When we played against Lesotho we had minimum time to prepare so we can safely say that match was a preparation for the Namibia game. Even the players among themselves they have a feel that they have a better understanding of how they need to play,” Mutekede said.
He said he will make some adjustments to the team, with Celtic Glasgow star Benyu, who started against Lesotho operarting from the deep midifield position alongside Marvellous Nakamba, set to be pushed forward to the number 10 role.
“We are going to try other combinations because when we played the last match there were things that we discovered. We picked that some players are strong in a different position than the ones they played in. When we made some changes during that game, there was a better flow of the game so there would be some adjustments but basically we are going to retain the core of the team.
While he was impressed by the performance of the UK-based players, especially by Darikwa, who he described as a world class player, he believes there is more that they can offer.
“We are looking for a better performance from the players. We want to see these guys coming out of their shells. It was their first game and you could tell that they were trying too hard to impress. I am confident that they can do better we will do well, but the bigger picture is we want to better the Warriors. This game is going to give us a picture of how the team is going to be in terms of shaping, and having in mind the guys that are not here, the likes of Knowledge, Khama Billiat and Costa Nhamoinesu. A good performance is obviously going to give an indication of how well we could be when these guys return to the team.”
The team flew out of the country in the afternoon yesterday and were expected in Windhoek last night. They left in high spirits after PHD ministries leader Prophet Walter Magaya handed them some wards of cash.
Yadah FC chairman and leading Harare advocate Everson Chatambudza, is the team’s head of delegation.
