adminRicky Zililo Sports Reporter
THE Mozambique senior national soccer team is expected to jet into Bulawayo this afternoon ahead of their international friendly match against Zimbabwe at Barbourfields Stadium on Sunday. The Mambas, as they are affectionately known, will have three days in Bulawayo to prepare for the encounter.In a telephone interview from Harare yesterday, the Zifa communications manager, Xolisani Gwesela, said the Mozambican team would touch down at the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport from Johannesburg at midday.
“We received the Mozambique national team’s itinerary sometime today notifying us that they will be leaving Johannesburg tomorrow morning and our representatives will welcome them at the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport. I think they will proceed to check-in at a hotel in Bulawayo before their training session at either White City
Stadium or Barbourfields Stadium,” said Gwesela.
The Zifa spokesperson was confident that soccer lovers in the City of Kings, who turned out in their numbers for last Saturday’s How Mine/Highlanders Mbada Diamonds Cup final, would come to watch the Warriors-Mozambique tie.
Bulawayo football lovers have in the past been denied opportunities to watch the national teams yet Barbourfields Stadium meets the Fifa requirements to host international matches.
Visiting teams can fly direct to Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport and there are up-market hotels in the city that can accommodate them.
Hopes are high that more international games will be brought to Bulawayo after the Mozambique game.
Barbourfields Stadium last played host to a national team last year when Botswana’s Under-20s lost 0-4 to the Young Warriors in the first leg of the first round qualifier of the African Championships.
Zimbabwe is using the Mozambique game as part of its preparations for the Chan finals set for South Africa next month.
Warriors’ head coach Ian Gorowa said they would start training for their game against the Mambas today.
“We will hold our first training in Bulawayo tomorrow and from my understanding the players are travelling to Bulawayo as we speak. This is a very important game for us which we are not taking lightly and we are using it to assess the other guys as we prepare for the Chan finals,” said Gorowa.
The former Mamelodi Sundowns gaffer has called up Black Rhinos’ Wonder Kampinda and Lot Chiwunga, Buffaloes’ Themba Ndlovu, Hwange’s Gerald Ndlovu and Nkosana Siwela, Bantu Rovers’ Nqobizitha Masuku and Black Mambas’ Convenience Hungwe.
Dynamos’ Partson Jaure, who was handed a seven-match Premiership ban, is in the squad and is likely to partner the Hwange defensive stalwart Gerald or Chicken Inn’s Felix Chindungwe in central defence.
The Warriors
Munyaradzi Diya (Highlanders), George Chigova (Dynamos), Wonder Kampinda (Black Rhinos), Hardlife Zvireki (Caps United), Themba Ndlovu (Buffaloes), Gerald Ndlovu (Hwange), Felix Chindungwe (Chicken Inn), Milton Ncube (Highlanders), Nqobizitha Khumalo (Bantu Rovers), Convenience Hungwe (Black Mambas), Dan Phiri (Chicken Inn), Pascal Manhanga (Triangle), Nkosana Siwela (Hwange), Warren Dube (How Mine), Silas Songani (Harare City), Lot Chiwunga (Black Rhinos), Kuda Mahachi (Chicken Inn), Ali Sadiki (FC Platinum), Bruce Kangwa (Highlanders), Misheck Mburayi (Triangle), Simba Sithole (Dynamos), Simba Sithole (How Mine)
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