Online Reporter
Petros Kausiyo in LONDON, England
ZIMBABWE’s Warriors are set to make some key changes in bid to add more bite to their side as they seek to end their maiden Unity Cup campaign with a bronze medal.
The Warriors will face India in a third-place play-off at Valley stadium here this afternoon.
Kick off 3.30pm (local time).
Kaitano Tembo has finally had an opportunity for more training sessions with his squad and the Warriors interim coach looks set to make sok4 changes to the team that started in the 2-0 semi-final defeat by Nigeria on Tuesday.
Tembo can now call on the attacking prowess of Young Africans started man Prince Dube and Daniel Msendami of Orlando Pirates.
Msendami is on a high after helping the Buccaneers end a 12 year South African Championship title drought when they pipped serial winners and 2026 African football kings Mamelodi Sundowns to the league prize.
Tembo, who has been seeking to balance results, team cohesion and performance can also summon the defensive qualities of Emmanuel Jalai.
The ex-Dynamos skipper also had a dream debut in the South African top-flight which he capped by winning the Nedbank Cup with Durban City.
The trio was among the late arrivals in London due to club commitments and Tembo had avoided risking the lure to throw them from the plane and straight into the bruising battle against the Super Eagles.
Msendami, however was given a run on, late on when coming in the final 10 minutes.
Now, the Warriors, easily the most popular team at this year’s Unity Cup would want to give their Diaspora fans something to cheer about for warming up to them on this tour.
But for Tembo the mission is to see how his veterans who include Marshall Munetsi, Munashe Garananga, Marvelous Nakamba, Gerald Takwara, Godknows Murwira and Dube are blending in with Sean Fusire, Shane Maroodza, Jonah Fabisch, Tawanda Chirewa and Corbin Mthunzi.
Nakamba, Chirewa and Murwira are among those who have hardly seen any game time in the last five months, a development that should worry Tembo and any other coach.
It will also be an opportunity for Goalkeepers trainer Pernell McKop to see assess the qualities between the posts of Brentford’s Marley Tavaziva from a game situation.
The prospects of facing an Indian outfit who are set to bring a different dimension is exciting German-based midfielder Fabisch.
“We have never played India before. We mostly play teams from Africa so this is something which will be exciting,” Fabisch said.
“We played differently from the way we had played before because we had some new players who were not there in the previous tournaments.
“I think it’s going to be exciting and exciting and looking forward to it.
“We have been analysing them and preparing at training .“If we can use our chances better in the last third we can take pirates chances and bring the same intensity we are having at training into the match we will be okay.
“Sometimes you can do everything in training and then play differently on match day, you can prepare well but still not able to bring the same intensity, so we are just hoping for the best on Saturday.
“I think we need to be more clinical in finishing the chances that we create,” Fabisch said.
Fabisch, whose late father Reinhard coached Zimbabwe during one of the golden moments and had his side famously called the “Fream Team’’, also noted the need for the Warriors to get off the blocs early into any game.
Against Nigeria, the Warriors were off to a nervy start and conceded as early as the fifth minute, which added unnecessary pressure on them to chase the game.
“We need to control the game early especially the first 10 minutes or so that we don’t run behind and that we don’t have to chase the game quite early.
While the squad that Super Eagles gaffer Eric Chelle brought here for the Unity Cup title draws its manpower from the domestic top-flight in Nigeria and the European leagues which include the English Championship, the Indians, the majority of who play in such competitions like the Asian Cup will present a different physical test to the Warriors.
That exposure, courtesy of a commendable decision by ZIFA to register the team in such tournaments, will in the long run prove beneficial to both Tembo and his players.
The coach has noted the limited time that is between this Unity Cup and the start of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and is now also looking at maximising on Zimbabwe’s participation’s at this year’s COSAFA Cup.
Tembo, however, also has a plan to rope more of the players plying their trade in the Castle Lager Premiership during the COSAFA in order to give everyone a fair chance to fight for places in the Warriors.
This should provide an opportunity for such players like Takunda Benhura of CAPS United and Hardrock centre back Misheck Ngwenya to knock on the doors of Warriors selection.
It could also be an opportunity for CAPS United vice-captain and mainstay Richard Hachiro to try and fight his way back into the Warriors reckoning along with Scottland goalkeeper Nelson Chadya.
