Frank Makarati and Tanaka Shandirwa were in Kariba on Saturday evening. The duo was in the Dynamos starting eleven as Genesis Mangombe’s troops edged relegation-threatened Cranborne Bullets at Nyamhunga Stadium. They travelled with the rest of the DeMbare squad —a distance of 355 kilometers —back to Harare on Saturday night.
On Sunday morning, Makarati and Shandirwa were in the Warriors camp to prepare for the Challenge Cup against Namibia, which was part of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s inauguration at the National Sports Stadium yesterday.
It was a hurriedly assembled 18-man Warriors squad comprising of locally-based players that were active for their respective clubs in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League over the weekend. The squad even involved Highlanders’ Peter Muduhwa, who took part in Bosso’s 0-2 defeat to Chicken Inn at Babourfields Stadium on Sunday.
But Muduhwa travelled to Harare and took part in yesterday’s game, which the Warriors got the better on Namibia 5-4 in the penalty shootout lottery. Bulawayo Chiefs’ evergreen Mthokozisi Msebe needed just two minutes to draw first blood for the Warriors, less than 48 hours after taking part in a bruising battle with FC Platinum at Luveve.
Msebe’ Chiefs teammate Obriel Chirinda also started for the Warriors, so did the FC Platinum duo of Walter Musona and Brian Banda.
Sunday Chidzambga was appointed to take charge of this once-off assignment and the veteran coach’s charges did well against the Brave Warriors —who have been in camp for two weeks preparing for the 2024 CHAN qualifiers slated for later this month.
The clearly fatigued Warriors fared well against locally-based Namibian players whose league has not even started.
Granted, the match was hurriedly organised but we needed somewhere to start after nearly two years of inactivity in international football, on account of the FIFA suspension.
The Warriors had last played in front of fans at the National Sports Stadium in October 2019, when then coach Joey ‘Mafero’ Antipas’ charges played out a goalless draw with Bostswana in a Afcon 2021 qualifier. Two different coaches —Zdravko Logarusic and Norman Mapeza, took charge of the national team after Antipas but fans were not allowed to watch the games at the stadium due to the effects of Covid-19.
Therefore, Zimbabweans needed to remember how it feels to watch the national team again, as we prepare for our eagerly-awaited return to international. The incoming Warriors coach will have a foundation from which to start, to prepare for the upcoming CHAN qualifiers.
Source Soccer24
