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Tadious Manyepo
Sports Reporter
ZIFA and the Warriors technical committee were by late last night still locked in a meeting as they deliberated on the national logistical plan for their international assignments in South Africa.
The Warriors are scheduled to play Lesotho and South Africa in the 2026 World qualifiers inside four days next week.
They will first engage Lesotho at home at Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg on Friday next week before they face South Africa at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein four days later.
The Warriors are one of three sides in the six team Group C who are unable to play their home games in their countries as they do not have stadiums certified by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
Benin who are having to use Felix Houphouet Boigny stadium in Cote d’Ivoire and Lesotho who have shifted to Moses Mabhida in Durban, are the other Group C teams without a suitable home ground.
As they resume their audacious bid for a place at the 2026 World Cup, jointly hosted by United States, Mexico and Canada, the Warriors know they will have to move mountains in a tough and yet very open group that also has Africa Cup of Nations runners-up Nigeria and unpredictable Rwanda.
Zimbabwe, who sit two points behind leaders Rwanda, with four have not had the best of build-ups to the resumption of the World Cup qualifiers.
The Warriors had no coach, and only appointed Manica Diamonds’ Jairos Tapera as the interim coach on Monday.
Tapera is expected to lead the local contingent of the Warriors on a flight to South Africa tomorrow morning where their camp is expected to begin.
They will link up with all the foreign-based players in Johannesburg where ZIFA have elected to set up camp ahead of the June 7 clash against Lesotho and South Africa on June 11.
And ZIFA’s FIFA Forward manager Kudzi Chitima, the association’s chief executive Yvonne Mapika Manwa and other officials met with Tapera and his technical crew, which also includes assistant coaches Saul Chaminuka and Takesure Chiragwi to deliberate on the Warriors on the team’s itinerary.
Seven locally-based players who include Simba Bhora skipper Walter Musona, CAPS United captain Godknows Murwira, Andrew Mbeba (Highlanders), Tymon Machope (Simba Bhora) and goalkeepers Donovan Bernard (Chicken Inn), Geofrey Chitsumba (Manica Diamonds) and Dynamos’ Martin Mapisa are scheduled to leave the country for South Africa tomorrow morning.
The South Africa-based duo of Devine Lunga and Douglas Mapfumo will also travel from their respective locations to Johannesburg tomorrow and join up with the rest of the squad.
Mapfumo, who plays for Polokwane City is based in the Limpopo Provincial city while Mamelodi Sundowns’ Lunga will take a short trip from Pretoria.
Lunga, will, however, have club duties to fulfil before he joins his national team.
The left back is expected to be part of the Mamelodi Sundowns side that will face Orlando Pirates in the Nedbank Cup final at Mbombela stadium in Mpumalanga.
The rest of the players in the squad are dotted in Europe and will fly directly to South Africa.
Although he had wanted to recall some of the Warriors old horses, Tapera has since expressed optimism ahead of the double header fixtures.
“I have so much belief in the arsenal that we have at our disposal. If you closely look at each of the players in the squad, you will see that they have unique qualities,” said Tapera.
“If we quickly settle down and try to work on the combinations, I think we will do well.
“We are going into these matches with a positive mind and once we approach them with confidence, I think we will be able to deliver.
“I have talked to each and every player in the team and they are all in very good spirits. We will get to meet in South Africa on Sunday and I think we will have a very good working week leading to the game against Lesotho.”
The Castle Lager Premier Soccer League Coach of the Month for April said he would take his assignments on a game-by-game basis.
“This is the game (against Lesotho) that we have in our minds right now.
“Then we will look at the South Africa match when we are done with this one.
“All is well right now and we will be eager to showcase ourselves and get the results.”
ZIFA, never short of drama brewed another surprise ahead of the trip to South Africa with revelations that former Zimbabwe international and team manager Clement Matawu has been inexplicably dropped from his role.
Matawu who is on the books of Chicken Inn travelled to Rwanda for the first two qualifiers as team manager and had largely been expected to continue to handle the welfare aspects of the Warriors.
Instead, newly appointed Competitions manager Simba Gochera will now double as the team manager for the South African sojourn.
Online Reporter