adminPetros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
ZIMBABWE Under-23 coach Callisto Pasuwa will get his first opportunity to assess his national youth side when the Young Warriors face Swaziland in an international friendly at Somhololo Stadium in Mbabane next week.
The match has been set for 7pm on October 15 with the Young Warriors expected to fly out to Swaziland via South Africa on Monday morning and return a day after the game.
Pasuwa was away when the new-look Young Warriors he assembled played against Botswana Zebras in Gaborone last Tuesday.
His assistant, Saul Chaminuka, took charge and the ZPC Kariba coach reckoned that skipper Ronald Pfumbidzai and his troops had acquitted themselves well despite the loss to the Zebras.
“The team did quite well considering that they were playing together for the first time but they showed character and it was unfortunate we did not win the game,” said Chaminuka.
Now Chamimuka and Pasuwa will team up as they get another chance to assess the Young Warriors when they meet Sihlangu in the friendly next week.
The Young Warriors had initially been pencilled to play Tanzania but Zifa indicated yesterday that the Taifa Stars, will now face Benin on the same day while Zimbabwe head to Mbabane.
National Football Association of Swaziland chief executive officer Frederick Mngomezulu yesterday confirmed the international friendly in the correspondence sent to his Zifa counterpart Jonathan Mashingaidze.
“The National Football Association of Swaziland (NFAS) acknowledges receipt of your correspondence dated 3rd October 2014 with respect to the above captioned subject (international friendly match between Zimbabwe and Swaziland) and would like to state the following:
The NFAS acknowledges your expression of acquiescence to play the international friendly match on the 15th October 2014
The NFAS hereby expresses that it will collect your team delegation from Johannesburg utilising the association’s bus on the day of arrival and also return them to Johannesburg after the match on departure day
However, the NFAS will not be in a position to offer an Appearance Fee for the match, except what was communicated in the previous correspondence of 1st October 2014, which is as follows: accommodation of your team, local transportation, security and escort for your team for the duration of stay in Swaziland.
“NFAS is looking forward to your prompt reaction to this proposal so as to commence the necessary logistics, if applicable,’’ wrote Mngomezulu.
Mashingaidze said the match against Swaziland and last week’s trip to Gaborone were part of a programme they had rolled out which is aimed at helping the Young Warriors coaches to adequately prepare their charges for the Under-23 Championships qualifiers and the All-Africa Games qualifiers scheduled for early next year.
Ironically, the Young Warriors will face Swaziland’s Under-23 side in the first rounds of both qualifiers next year.
According to the draws of the Under-23 Championships and the All-Africa Games qualifiers conducted by Caf, the Young Warriors will face Swaziland in the first round first leg of the All-Africa Games qualifiers away on the weekend of February 20-22 before hosting the return leg on the weekend of March 6-8 next year.
The winner between the two sides would then proceed to meet Cameroon in the second round
In the qualifying campaign for the Under-23 Championships, it will be Zimbabwe against Swaziland again with the first leg slated for the weekend of April 24-26.
Should they negotiate their way past Swaziland in the Under-23 Championships qualifiers, the Young Warriors will take on South Africa while a North African nation Senegal wait in ambush in the third round, if Pasuwa’s men eliminate Amaglug-glug in the second hurdle.
Mashingaidze said they had also arranged a friendly match against Morocco in Agadir, a south coastal city on the shores of the Atlantic, on November 16.
“The coaches have indicated that they would want more time with the players as they build a new team for the Under-23 Championships and the All-Africa Games qualifiers and we are still working on the possibility of a trip to Europe sometime in December so that by the time the qualifiers start in February a lot of preparations would have been done.
Online Reporter