Government bails out Warriors

will not be part of the action after injury ruled him out of the make-or-break encounter.
The Warriors failed to leave, as initially scheduled, yesterday amid reports of a cash squeeze at Zifa where – in previous assignments – the association’s president Cuthbert Dube has resorted to using his personal funds.
But Norman Mapeza and his men are now scheduled to leave this evening, hooking up with the South Africa-based players in Johannesburg tonight before flying to Senegal en-route to Cape Verde.
Sadomba, who played for his Sudanese club Al-Hilal in a Champions League tie on Sunday night, has been ruled out of the Cape Verde game after he suffered a shoulder injury during that tie.
Al-Hilal lost 0-1 at home.
Dynamos striker Cuthbert Malajila has now been roped into the team to replace Sadomba, who flew home shortly after the Champions League assignment to give the national team’s medical crew their own assessment of the injury.
The Warriors are now scheduled to arrive in Praia, which is a short-flight from Dakar, tomorrow.
Sadomba was injured on the shoulder during Al Hilal Champions league match semi final match 1-0 to defeat to Tunisian giants Esperance at home in Sudan.
Warriors’ manager Sharif Mussa yesterday revealed that Sadomba will miss the tie.
“Edward featured for his team in the semi-finals of the Champions League last night (Sunday) and injured himself on the shoulder.
“He phoned us and he came in yesterday and was in great pain.
“The medical team had their assessment and informed us that the boy cannot play at the weekend.
“It is a big blow to us.
“But that is football and as replacement we have called in Cuthbert who is experienced and has been with the team before,” said Mussa.
He revealed that star midfielder Ovidy Karuru had assured them that he was getting better and would be ready for the Cape Verde test.
Karuru, the star of the Warriors in their last Nations Cup tie against Mali, has been struggling with an injury in the past two weeks.
He is expected to fly directly to Praia from his base in France tomorrow.
“Ovidy is saying he is getting better every day and so we still have him in our plans and obviously the medical team will assess him when we arrive in Cape Verde.
“We are leaving here with goalkeeper Washington Arubi, Daniel Veremu, Tapiwa Khumbuyani, as well as Kaizer Chiefs duo of Zhaimu Jambo and Willard Katsande who came here last weekend.
“We will hook up with the rest of the South Africa based players at OR Tambo International airport and connect to Senegal, Dakar at 9pm.
“We will arrive in the morning and briefly would be in transit before connecting in a short flight to Praia,” said Mussa.
The Warriors are expected to have their first real training, with all the players available, on Thursday and on Friday they will have a feel of the match venue.
Mapeza had been hoping for a longer acclimatisation period in Cape Verde where the windy conditions have made it difficult for visiting teams.
But Zifa did not have the funds to pay for the team’s travel whose initial itinerary would have seen them leaving Harare yesterday.
Yesterday Zifa president Dube revealed that the team was now traveling to Cape Verde after the Government intervened and financed the trip.
“We would like to pay tribute to Government for coming in,” said Dube.
“Since the campaign started we didn’t receive anything and at times I had to put my own resources, including title deeds.
“But the Government has noticed we mean business and even the President mentioned it when he addressed Team Zimbabwe at a reception at State House that the Ministry responsible should fund sport and that’s welcoming.”
The Warriors received a timely boost yesterday when Toyota Zimbabwe presented them with golf shirts and kit bags ahead of their Cape Verde adventure.
“As we are cleaning the Asiagate tsunami we seem to be enjoying more positive response from the corporate world,” said Dube.
“So we would like to assure them that we are leaving no stone unturned.
“We would like Zifa to run in a proper business manner.
“We want people to smell business at Zifa and we have been calling for corporate governance and we have now recruited four professionals’ highly qualified personnel while four employees have gone on voluntarily retrenchment package as we are restructuring.”
Dube said he would give the Warriors more, in terms of bonuses, from his personal funds in the event that they win in Cape Verde.
“We are going to increase what Zifa is giving. If you win you will get something from the (Zifa) President.
“This match is a do-or-die.
“We would also like to thank you for improving our rankings to number 66th in the world and 14th in Africa and that is highly commendable and if we win against Cape Verde it will further improve our standings,” said Dube.
Toyota Sales manager Enock Jokomo said they feel honoured to be associated with the Warriors in the last eight months and the team has to be presentable as they bid to clear the last hurdle.
Mapeza said he was still confident his charges will do well in humid Cape Verde.
“As much as we would have loved more days at training there is nothing we can do,” said Mapeza.
“I know we won’t really have problems with fitness as all the players are active at their clubs.
“I think we have done well.
“You never know with the football but we are confident that come Saturday the nation will be celebrating.”