Zimbabwe's Afcon preparations against Cape Verde becoming a nighmare
Cash-strapped Warriors stuck in the mud
Posted: 2011-10-04 10:22
Zimbabwe's preparations for the crucial 2012 Afcon Group A qualifier against Cape Verde remains stuck in the mud with the team still to assemble ahead of the crunch tie on Saturday afternoon.
The Warriors now face the prospect of only having their first training session on Thursday upon their expected arrival in Praia, Cape Verde – just two days before the match.
Zimbabwe needs to beat Cape Verde and hope that Mali does not pick up three points away in Liberia.
However, the South African-based players, who make up 11 of the 18 players called up, are still holed up at their respective bases, except for Zhaimu Jambo and Willard Katsande who travelled to Harare on personal business last Thursday and have remained in the capital since then.
First choice keeper Tapuwa Kapini of AmaZulu is still in Durban while the Ajax Cape Town duo of Khama Billiat and Tafadzwa Rusike remain in the Mother City awaiting for the troubled Zifa to send them flight details.
The three players must fly up to Johannesburg where they will link up with the rest of the South African based players who are based in Gauteng.
Waiting in Johannesburg is Method Mwanjali, Thomas Sweswe, Gilbert Mapemba, Tinashe Nengomasha, Lincoln Zvasiya and Nyasha Mushekwi.
All three European based players are also still at their respective bases and will only link up with the team upon its arrival in Cape Verde.
The local based players who are stuck in Harare with the technical squad and management cannot also train as they are only three in the squad.
Though the cash-crippled Zifa have long known about the trip to Cape Verde, they never made any concrete plans and have now only been rescued by the government who have financed the trip.
The local based players, who are in Harare along with the rest of the travelling crew, will now travel to Johannesburg late this afternoon before linking up with the South African players at OR Tambo Airport for the trip to Dakar, Senegal from where they will proceed to Cape Verde tomorrow.
It will only be on Thursday, after the arrival of the European based players Vusa Nyoni, Ovidy Karuru and Knowledge Musona, that the Warriors will then be able to have their first training session as a squad.
They will then train at the match venue on Friday ahead of the Saturday encounter a situation that has left coach Norman Mapeza without much of an option but to just select his starting eleven based on light drills and past performance.
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