Chronicle Editor
Eddie Chikamhi, Harare Bureau
WARRIORS midfielder Khama Billiat is praying for an injury-free tournament when Zimbabwe go out in defence of their title at the Cosafa Cup with a quarter-final date against Comoros at Princess Magogo Stadium in Durban today.
Kick-off is 5:30pm.
This will be the second match of the afternoon after the clash between Lesotho and guest nation Uganda at the same venue earlier in the day.
Sunday Chidzambwa’s men are using the regional competition as part of their preparations for the Afcon finals in Egypt later this month.
However, their preparations for the Cosafa Cup suffered a jolt when one of the fringe players, Walter Musona, twisted his ankle in their first training session on Thursday.
Musona joined the majority of the players, who arrived in Durban during midweek for the second leg of the preparations, along with his brother Knowledge, Teenage Hadebe, Billiat and goalkeeper George Chigova.
The Polokwane City star, who had hoped to impress the technical team ahead of the finalisation of the Afcon squad, is now a huge doubt for the tournament.
Midfielder Billiat said the Cosafa Cup is a good platform to prepare for Afcon but stressed the need to be careful not to pick injuries.
“Firstly, we would want to thank the coaches and the nation for making it possible for us to be here,’’ said Billiat.
“It’s all clear we want to defend our Cosafa title and we also want to make this tournament a very strong preparation for Afcon.
“It’s actually a big platform for us to get some combinations right before we go to Egypt. It’s a very important for us to keep fit and to work on things we really need to do when we go to Afcon.
“So, it’s an important tournament for both the coaches and the players to see where you are and how far you need to work before the Afcon tournament.
“We really appreciate the support and we have to be fit. We keep on praying to God to stay injury-free so that we can express ourselves and glorify His name with the talent at Afcon.’’
The Kaizer Chiefs midfielder is one of the survivors of the Warriors’ 2017 Afcon squad.
He is relishing a second appearance at the big stage.
“We appreciate the support the nation has been giving us. They have believed in us and made it possible for us to work on our qualification.
“We are asking the nation to continue supporting us the same way they have been doing. We want to achieve better in this Afcon. I am sure we now have the experience, we have been there before.
“We know we can’t be excited, we can’t be conceding early and we can’t be doing certain things indifferently.
“We all believe was want to do better than last time. We really didn’t know how to handle our emotions but right now we are going there with calm nerves and a bit of experience. I believe this time around we will be more confident and more positive,” said Billiat.
Their opponents in today’s match, Comoros, booked their berth in the last eight when they topped Group A with four points after beating Mauritius and drawing with Eswatini.
Warriors team manager Wellington Mpandare yesterday confirmed Walter Musona’s injury while his brother, Knowledge, still has to work more on his match fitness.
Orlando Pirates midfielder Marshal Munetsi, who has been sorting out issues with his club, is also out of the Cosafa quarterfinal since he is only expected to join camp today.
“Walter is in a boot. He didn’t train (yesterday) and is definitely out of the Comoros game,” said Mpandare.
“Knowledge is not up to speed as we speak. Remember, he missed some bit of training with the team and his season ended a long time ago.
“The boys want to do their best but at the end of the day we are playing a potentially dangerous team that has played two games so far in the tournament and are in right form.
“But the boys are geared up for the game,” said Mpandare.
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