Garan’anga recovers from injury

Zimpapers Sports Hub
HAVING missed the last two Warriors assignments owing to injury, defender Munashe Garan’anga is likely to bounce back to the national team fold in the next international window after recovering from injury.

The Warriors will face Kenya on November 11 before taking on Cameroon four days later in their remaining 2025 Afcon Qualifiers Group J games.

The Warriors are targeting at least a point from those two games to seal a place at next year’s finals in Morocco.

Coach Michael Nees is expected to boost his backline with the return of Copenhagen star, Garan’anga.

With Brandon Galloway injured Garan’anga should be able to provide the much-needed cover at the back.

The Denmark-based defender missed the previous back-to-back matches against Namibia earlier this month through injury.

He was in the FC Copenhagen matchday squad that played a goalless draw against Brondby in the Danish Superliga on Sunday.

However, Garan’anga was an unused substitute in the encounter.

The Warriors will host Kenya before facing Cameroon away during the November international break.

Garan’anga is a former Ubuntu Cape Town Academy player.

He joined the Belarus Premier League side, Dynamo Brest in February 2022.

In January 2023, Garan’anga left Dynamo Brest to join the Moldovan team, Sheriff Tiraspol.

He made his debut for Sheriff in the Europa Conference League play-offs stage against Serbian side FK Partizan in February last year.

He has played for Zimbabwe in World Cup Qualifiers earlier in the year.

Nees has revealed that the their second from last qualifier match for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) tournament against Kenya, will be played in Polokwane, South Africa.

A few weeks ago, Zimbabwe posted back-to-back wins against Namibia at Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg.

In the match which saw Zimbabwe prevail 1-0 over their opponents, Namibia was the home side and opted to play the match in an empty Orlando Stadium with their Football Association (FA) citing lack of funds to hire security personnel.

A few days later, Zimbabwe was the home side at the same facility and in a carnival atmosphere that was provided by fans, mostly Zimbabweans, saw Nees’ charges post a 3-1 victory.

Nees feels Polokwane has better facilities which could help them play the way they want to play and Zimbabwe are set to play host to Kenya in Polokwane.

“We saw the need to improve on those areas and our conditions. Orlando Stadium was good when we played that Friday (against Namibia in the first leg).

“For every training, we needed a police escort and we could spend more time on the bus. We asked ourselves how we can improve on that.

“We looked around for a Plan B, and we asked how Polokwane is? We inquired, and Polokwane has one of the best pitches in South Africa,” Nees said.