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Harare Bureau
AFTER taking a short break for the Christmas holiday, the Warriors yesterday regrouped to continue their preparations for the African Nations Championship finals set for South African next month.
Coach Ian Gorowa on Tuesday gave his charges an option to join their families for Christmas but requested that they resume preparations yesterday afternoon.
Some players, however, opted to remain in camp together with Gorowa who decided against flying to join his family in Johannesburg as he put his country’s interests ahead of his personal interests.
Warriors’ team manager Shariff Mussa yesterday said the players were going to be assessed before the technical team can prepare a programme for next week.
“The boys are now back in camp and they have regrouped for training. Some had gone out while others remained behind,” said Mussa.
The players went through a workout at Gateway High yesterday and Mussa was confident the players will be fired up after the short break.
“Before this break, there was a programme that we had been following in terms of conditioning the players.
“Now that there was this break, I think the first session could be to basically assess the levels of the players to see who had dropped and who has improved,” said Mussa.
Gorowa challenged his players to retain their discipline during the short Christmas break and Mussa said there was need to retest their players ahead of the Chan finals.
The move to retest the players also comes against the background of the strictness with which Fifa and Caf now enforce anti-doping and the general medical status of the players before and after tournaments like Chan.
Before the break, the Warriors’ training focused on the gym sessions in the morning before a field session in the afternoon and another gym workout later in the day.
“The players had been doing well before the break but there is need to do some tests and see if they have maintained the levels before we consider a training plan for next week,” said Mussa.
Zimbabwe have been placed in Group B alongside Burkina Faso, Morocco at the Chan finals and Gorowa is aiming to progress beyond the first round as the Warriors make a third successive appearance at the tournament.
Gorowa is expected to name his final 23-men squad a few days ahead before the New Year and already Silas Songani and Misheck Mburayi are out of the tournament.
Harare City’s Songani is expected to undergo trials in Denmark on January 6 while Triangle’s Mburayi had not reported for training.
While the Warriors resumed training yesterday, their Group B opponents, Uganda are set to regroup today after having broken camp for Christmas.
The Cranes coach Micho Sredojevic has called in URA FC goalkeeper Brian Bwete to his squad preparing for next month’s CHAN.
The youthful Bwete joins goalkeepers Benjamin Ochan, Franco Oringa and Ismael Watenga who were also in the squad.
Striker Frank Kalanda has been withdrawn after he opted to travel to Vietman for a stint.
Online Reporter