adminEddie Chikamhi Sports Reporter
THE Warriors are set to receive a huge morale-boost in their preparations for the African Nations Championship when the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Andrew Langa visit their camp this afternoon.
The national team has been in camp for the last two weeks preparing for the third edition of the CHAN tournament to be hosted by South Africa next month and the minister’s visit has been welcomed with the Warriors technical team now intensifying their preparations ahead of next Monday’s departure.
Zifa Communications manager Xolisani Gwesela yesterday said the team would have lunch with the minister this afternoon.
The Warriors can only expect good tidings as Langa last week reassured government’s commitment to ensuring that the team’s preparations would not be distracted by the usual problems associated with Zifa’s financial difficulties.
Team coach Ian Gorowa and his troops have not had the kind of preparation they had desired and they had to keep up with the limited resources at their disposal in the last two weeks.
Gorowa at some point had to dig into his pockets to secure food for the team. In response to the Warriors’ plight, Langa then said his ministry was working on ways to assist the country’s flagship team ahead of their trip to South Africa for the CHAN tournament and beyond.
Warriors team manager Shariff Mussa was excited by the proposed lunch date with the minister and said the visit, which comes just seven days before their departure for the tournament would be great encouragement to the side.
“I heard the minister is coming and we are happy with that as the national football team. Obviously he would want to meet and interact with the players at personal level and try to build relationships with each one of them, which is a big morale booster.
“Players are professionals and in their line of duty for the nation they make a lot of sacrifices. The minister probably would want to acknowledge the sacrifices and hopefully to deliver news on some of the promises that had been talked about in terms of improving the welfare of the team,” said Mussa.
The Warriors continued with their training drills yesterday and Gorowa is expected to name his final 23-men squad in the next 48 hours, ahead of the Wednesday deadline set by Caf.
Gorowa’s men will then host Libya in a friendly match on Saturday as the North Africans make a stop-over on their way to the finals in South Africa. Zimbabwe will have their final preparatory game in Johannesburg next Tuesday against Gabon.
“We have a friendly match against Libya coming up and we hope the guys are now ready to show the results of all the hard work they have invested into these preparations in the last two weeks.
“So far we are happy with the level of preparation and these guys are willing and raring to put all that has been learnt into practice. These friendly games are very useful for the coaches as well to gauge the team’s preparedness for the CHAN tournament,” said Mussa.
Zimbabwe were drawn in Group B with Uganda, Morocco and Burkina Faso. The Warriors who will be based in Cape Town will open their campaign on January 12 against North African giants Morocco hoping for better fortunes this year.
The Warriors have qualified for the first two editions of the tournament in 2009 and 2011 but their campaigns could not go beyond the group stages on both occasions.
They will start as one of the few teams that has managed to grace all the finals in the tournament’s brief history with hopes high for third time luck.
The CHAN tournament will start on January 11 and end on February 1. Mussa said the team will take another break for the New Year’s holiday on Wednesday and Thursday.
Online Reporter