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The tournament coincides with a date originally set for internationals and the national association is confident that they will get a bulk of the players the coaches need.
Zifa chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze assured the nation that Zimbabwe would field a strong side. He said they would engage clubs while there was still time for the players that are on the radar for the crunch tie against Angola in the final qualifier of the Africa Cup of Nations.
Zimbabwe will start at home in the first weekend of September before travelling to Luanda four weeks later.
Mashingaidze said the tournament would feature the hosts, Ethiopia and Rwanda as well would be a perfect opportunity for coach Rahman Gumbo to make good preparations for the 2013 Afcon qualifiers.
“We are committed to ensuring the Warriors have the best of preparations. This is a very crucial stage for the Warriors to be counted among Africa’s best, so we have agreed to take part in the event after being invited by Cecafa.
“This is a very positive development for us, it could have come at a better time than this for us when we were still trying to get one of our neighbours to play the Warriors before the Angola game,” said Mashingaidze.
He said what was pleasing was the fact that all the event’s expenses would be borne by the organisers.
“They will buy air tickets for 25 people, accommodate and feed them, apart from that there will also be daily allowances for the team coming from the organisers,” said Mashingaidze.
He said there would also be prizemoney though they were yet to be furnished with the figures.
On Monday and Tuesday Zimbabwe took part in another mini tournament in Botswana losing 1-0 to the hosts before beating Lesotho 5-3.
The preparations for the tour were shambolic resulting in Rahman Gumbo taking probably a fifth string Zimbabwe side which had Khumbulani Banda, who had just recovered from illness Marlon Jani and Hardlife Zvireki among the players.
Some clubs refused to release their players for the encounter since the games did not fall on the Fifa calendar dates for international matches.
Online Reporter