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Tadious Manyepo-Sports Reporter
THE Warriors have started their camp in South Africa ahead of their double-header 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and South Africa.
They play Lesotho at Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg on Friday before they face-off against South Africa at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein on Tuesday next week.
And, ZIFA decided that they set base across the Limpopo in the build-up to the game against Lesotho on Friday.
Most of the players in the squad had by late yesterday afternoon arrived in South Africa for the assignments.
The team, which is camped in Sandton, will train at the High Performance Centre in Johannesburg.
Team manager, Simba Gochera, told Zimpapers Sport that most of the players in the squad, including all those called from Europe are already in camp.
“The Warriors are indeed in camp in Johannesburg. We will be training at a local High Performance Centre in Johannesburg to scientifically prepare the team ahead of the match against Lesotho on Friday,” said Gochera.
“All the foreign-based players called into the squad are safely here.
“Those travelling from Harare (Geofrey Chitsumba, Godknows Murwira, Walter Musona, Tymon Machope and Martin Mapisa are expected late on (late yesterday).
“Those travelling from Bulawayo (Donovan Bernard and Andrew Mbeba) will also arrive at the same time as their Harare counterparts.
“I can say that morale is very high and all the players are displaying some positive attitude and this is a very good sign. They are in very high spirits and we are hoping to see a good week of preparation leading up to our match against Lesotho.”
Gochera said Italy-based utility Jordan Zemura will arrive in South Africa this morning.
He was supposed to travel yesterday, but after launching his Jordan Zemura Foundation through an Under-12 tournament in Harare, on Saturday, Zemura’s journey was rescheduled to today.
“Everyone else is here and by late today (yesterday), we are expecting a full complement of the team save for Jordan (Zemura) who will be arriving early tomorrow (today).
“It’s all looking sharp and we are optimistic that all will go according to plan as we have secured the training venue and everything else.
“We are thankful to South Africa-based Zimbabwe Footballers Association for working hand in glove with the embassy and other Zimbabwe-owned South Africa-based companies like Zororo-Phumulani (who dressed fans that welcomed the players at OR Tambo International Airport) to see to it that we got an ideal welcome here,” he said.
“We are very grateful and this is a good sign which we also hope to see during the duration of our stay in South Africa.”
Gochera, a former Sports and Recreation employee, replaced Chicken Inn administrator Clement Matawu in the Warriors manager’s post last week.
Online Reporter