dyton mupawaenda
NEW Warriors coach Michael Nees was unveiled last week ahead of his first assignment against Kenya in an away fixture and Cameroon in a home match of the 2025 AFCON qualifiers in a neutral Uganda.
Both Kenya and Zimbabwe have been forced out of their respective territories as they do not have venues that meet minimum standards set by the Confederation of African Football.
Nees will plunge into serious battle without any warm-up matches to assess players and has been forced into selecting a squad largely based on historical data.
That probably explains why he selected a squad dominated by experienced players despite an earlier route where the Warriors were seemingly getting younger.
But in settling for history, Nees has attracted criticism from some sections of the football community especially on the inclusion of players like Washington Arubi, Andrew Mbeba and Teenage Hadebe.
The contention has been that these three have not been active at their respective clubs or did not have clubs at the time of the squad announcement.
However, national team selections have always been contentious worldwide as it is impossible to come up with a squad that pleases everyone.
For instance, the England squad selection for the 2024 European Championships had so many talking points around the exclusion of James Maddison, Jack Grealish and the injured Harry Maguire from his final 26 players, having already axed Marcus Rashford, Jordan Henderson and Ben Chilwell from his training squad.
On the local scene, when there is a local coach in charge, they will always be accused of selecting players from their former teams or where they are currently attached.
Then player agents will be blamed for the selection of certain individuals. There is never a squad that gets a 75 percent endorsement from the football community, especially before a match is played.
It is therefore not surprising that while a section of the Warriors fans wanted captain Marvelous Nakamba to be part of the trip to Uganda despite just coming back from a lengthy injury lay-off, there are others unhappy with the inclusion of Hadebe and Mbeba.
Mbeba is struggling to make the starting XI at Highlanders while Hadebe, who was in Turkey until May, only secured a new club this week.
But the reality is that not having a team in the few months since he left Turkey did not harm Hadebe, who has been training with Highlanders in Bulawayo, at all.
Had Teenage Hadebe been in any of the European leagues, his 2024/5 season would have been just three matches in. He surely still has what it takes to be in the Warriors squad and his experience from tough leagues is what Nees wants right now. Players do not get bad overnight.
Zimbabweans need to rally behind the squad picked for the upcoming assignments and then judge Nees by results.
We can never have consensus on squad composition!
Online Reporter