By Austin Oduor,
Zimbabwe Warriors departed for Blantyre, Malawi today afternoon confident of pulling a shocker in an AFCON 2017 qualifying match scheduled for Saturday 13th June at the Kamuzu Stadium in Blantye, Malawi’s commercial capital.
Zimbabwe coach Pasuwa travelled with a total of 16 players and unveiled Supersport United midfielder Willard Katsade as the team captain. Katsade was full of confidence ahead of the match just hours before they departed for Malawi. He reiterated that they need to avoid open play and they will try to be defensive to unsettle the flames. He promised to fight for his country despite only training for a day before departure.
The Warriors suffered a setback with the unavailability of inform Sweden based striker Nyasha Mashekwi who will miss the encounter after pulling a muscle on Sunday in his team’s 1-1 draw against Malmo FC, Nyasha has had a splendid form in his club Djurgardens scoring 10 goals in 11 matches.
Elsewhere, dependable Mathew Rusike will miss the match as he did not report to camp for today’s morning session. He has since been replaced by Supersport United striker Kingston Nkhata.
Despite the setback and lack of training towards the buildup, Coach Pasuwa is optimistic that he has a strong side that can pull a shock result in Blantye.He named players like Knowledge Musona, Khama Billiat, Marvellous Nakamba, Kuda Mahachi, and Cuthbert Malajila as his deadliest weapon he has ever assembled.
The last time the two teams met at the same stadium was an international friendly in May 24th 2013 where they settled for a 1-1 draw. Owen Chaima of Warriors cancelled Robin Ngalande’s opener.
Zimbabwe has an edge over Malawi in head to head meet. The two teams have met a record 53 times with Zimbabwe winning 20 times against Malawi’s 16 times. They have drawn 17 times.
Zimbabwe’s last appearance in the AFCON was in 2006 and they would want to put their disappointments of not making it to the 2013 and 2015 tournaments. They failed to qualify for the 2015 AFCON after a shock 3-2 defeat on aggregate to lowly Tanzania, They had earlier failed in the 2013 tournament after throwing away a 3-1 lead at home only to lose 0-2 away in Luanda against Angola
The squad that is already in Blantyre, Malawi consists of the following players:
Benard Donovan
Tatenda Mukuruva
Blessing Moyo
Patson Jaure
Eric Chipeta
Teenage Hadebe
Justin Jangano
Ronald Pfumbidzai
Danny Phiri
Willard Mutasa
Khama Billiat
Kudakwashe Mahachi
Marvellous Nakamba
Knowledge Musona
Cuthbert Malajila
Kingston Nkatha
The officials for the southern Africa derby will be from Cameroon and they include
Christopher Nde- Centre referee
Thierry Bruno-1st Assistant
Joseph F Lambi- 2nd Assistant
The match will be live on Supersport 3
Keep it soka25east.com for the pre and post match analysis together with the live updates
Austin Oduor Otieno
Find me on twitter @aoduor24
