Online Reporter
Tadious Manyepo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
WARRIORS coach Marian “Mario” Marinica is excited to see his squad shaping out the way he wants even with new and younger players coming in and he isn’t shutting the door on more fresh faces.
The Romanian gaffer has been enjoying the quiet of warmth he has brought to the country after the Warriors gave the nation a reason to believe again by winning the Mukuru 4 Nations Cup in Francistown, Botswana last month.
The competition also involved hosts Botswana, Malawi and Zambia and gave the Zimbabwe coach a platform to widen his player base.
That Marinica delivered Zimbabwe’s first silverware in eight years without several key players, who were missing through injuries and varying reasons, has won him praises.
But the 61-year-old coach has been in the business long enough to know that he has to keep the momentum going.
Marinica’s next task is to lead Zimbabwe in the historic Unity Cup scheduled for the Valley in London, England where four teams clash out late next month.
The Warriors will face Nigeria in the first semi-final on May 27 before Jamaica and India square off in the other clash with the winners then meeting in the final on May 31, which preceded by the losers’ third-place play-off.
Marinica said he will likely give some new faces a run at the Unity Cup as he looks to polish up on his philosophy and expose more players to his style ahead of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, scheduled for later this year.
Zimbabwe are eager to pe part of next year’s edition of the Nations Cup dubbed “Pamoja’’ and which will be co-hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
At the end of Zimbabwe’s participation at the 2025 AFCON in Morocco in December, Marinica travelled to Europe where he spent nearly two months scouting, assessing, evaluating and interacting with potential Zimbabwe internationals.
It looks like his sojourn wasn’t in vain after he managed to bring two players Panashe Makwiramiti and Corbin Mthunzi for the Mukuru 4Nations tournament.
Makwiramiti got some minutes in the semi-final against Botswana, which Zimbabwe won 3-0 while Mthunzi got a run on, in the final, helping the Warriors seal a 1-0 victory and with it the silverware.
As the same tourney, there was also midfielder Shane Marodza who got to finally kick a ball in national team colours having been benched in the only time he was called in 2024.
Marinica did not limit his debutants to just those based in Europe.
The performance of the new faces in the team including from locally-based players like Mongameli Tshuma and Jarrison Selemani impressed also Marinica and he believes he will get to see more if he gives a chance to others too.
Since his return to Zimbabwe, Marinica has been watching several domestic Premiership matches across the country.
“I think it’s not all about having sort of trials every international break.
“We don’t have much time to train together and we can only have a few new players at a time,” said Marinica.
“But I should say I was really impressed by the youngsters who we called for the first time last month.
“They gave a good account of themselves and they gave us some reason to believe we need to also look into more new players so that we can give them a chance as well.
“But we will always have to balance giving them a run and shaping up our style and, also winning games.
“We are looking forward to the Unity Cup and see what we can do there.”
Marinica will be eager to welcome back some of his key players who were forced to withdraw from the squad that has on the Mukuru 4Nations Cup due to injuries.
Players who include Italy-based Jordan Zemura, Brendan Galloway, Tawanda Maswanhise, Thandolwenkonsi Ngwenya and Tawanda Chirewa had to pull out due to knocks.
Chirewa, Maswanhise and Galloway have now fully recovered while Zemura is still undergoing rehabilitation with the Udinese man expected back in action next week.
“I would like an ideal situation where all the players are available for selection,” added Marinica.
“I think all of those who withdrew will now be fit. We are working on having a structure as a team and that works well when everyone is available.”
It would be interesting to see how the Warriors will shape with all the material that Marinica yearns for, will be available.
