Online Reporter
THE June FIFA international football window has closed and the Warriors, for a refreshing change, utilised the window in full by playing two international matches in Morocco.
We also sent an emerging team of Warriors to the COSAFA Cup where they won one game, lost one and drew the other match.
They finished with the same number of points as hosts South Africa, who lost in the final, but Bafana Bafana progressed because of a better goal difference to us.
A lot of the focus was in Morocco where most of the players, who will feature at the 2025 AFCON finals for us, played in the two friendlies against Burkina Faso and Niger.
For a long time, we mourned that our players never get the chance to express themselves in environments where they don’t have the pressure that come with qualifiers and tournament football.
We were the nation which never seemed to see any value in playing in the international friendly matches.
This meant that we never afforded our coaches the chance to expand their catchment area and try some combinations without having to really worry about the ultimate result.
Now that we are playing these friendly international matches, Michael Nees was afforded a chance to look at some of his players, beyond his core group of stars, who can be drafted into the national team.
He was able to try some combinations, using different players, and we are so sure that he picked some priceless lessons from the adventure in Morocco.
He did the right thing to leave out some of his core players, including captain Marvelous Nakamba and his deputy Marshall Munetsi, and tried out some other players in their role.
Nees knows what Nakamba and Munetsi can give him.
But, he knows that they can also be injured at any time and that means there will be a need for other players to be drafted into their places.
We want to salute the ZIFA leadership for seeing real value in organising these friendlies against very strong opposition like Burkina Faso and Niger.
We should have beaten Niger but the bigger picture is that this adventure was more than just results but a team building exercise.
Nees was able to watch Bill Antonio in action and he even threw Marley Tavaziva in the game against Niger.
He was able to see Jonah Fabisch in action and the player made a huge impression.
We have said it again and again that we don’t want to go to the AFCON finals in Morocco in December just to make up the numbers.
This will be our sixth appearance at the football showcase and the time has come for us to demand that our team should go beyond the group stages and even challenge for a quarter-final or semi-final slot.
We have the players who can take us that far and we are happy that the authorities are now playing their part to try and help the team.
