Online Reporter
Mugove Chigada
Deputy Sports Editor
MOTHERWELL have confirmed they are ongoing discussions on when Tawanda Maswanhise can join the Zimbabwe camp for the AFCON finals in Morocco set for December, but they are already planning on the gap he will leave.
The Scottish Premiership side have been reliant of the winger, the current top goal scorer in the Scottish Premiership who has also scored 12 goals in all competitions so far.
Motherwell manager Jens Berthel Askou, who has inspired the team to fourth on the log with 21 points, face log leaders Hearts (30 points) on Saturday with hope to fully utilise Maswanhise before his departure.
Maswanhise, who is likely to be a key player for Warriors coach Marian Marinica, believes his teammates at Motherwell can still do well in his absence while the manager says they have a plan in place.
“I will always have that support even when I’m not playing (here). I will be keeping tabs on the players…,” said Maswanhise
“It’s going to be my first big tournament with the national team…I’m really excited. I will probably leave during the second week of December and then hopefully I will have a lot of success in the tournament and enjoy it.”
The winger, who joined from Leicester and has since extended his stay at the Scottish team, is one of the most inform African players in European leagues, in terms of goal scoring ability.
“I feel so yaah.. still buzzing of last weekend but focus is on this weekend. It gave us a lot of confidence, we played our tactics very well,” he said.
Maswanhise however believes it has all been about team work.
“I think we are finding peak form, obviously there is a new system for the whole team. I’m glad we are gelling now and we are picking more points, it’s really good to see.”
On manager Askou philosophy, he said: “It’s him bringing his energy and luck… morale and stuff. At the very start it was very difficult… we have had a few sessions together and it’s now starting to make a lot of sense. Tactically, we know where players need to be yeah… It looks more correct now.”
Motherwell face log leaders Hearts in a game that could help reduce the gap at the top and give them a chance.
And if they can win, they will also be doing a huge favour for giants Celtic who are second and on 26 points.
The Zimbabwean star said the manager has also been talking about remaining grounded to everyone, and not be over confident.
“I deal with it game by game… You need to go to the game with confidence otherwise it won’t come out. He says the same every week… not to be overly confident,” he said.
