Zimbabwe interim coach Jairos Tapera has revealed he tried to call up Knowledge Musona and Nyasha Mushekwi for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and South Africa.
The former Black Leopards tactician was appointed on interim basis last week for the upcoming qualifiers.
The Warriors squad only includes two South African-based players, but the coach admits he tried to bring the former Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns strikers.
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"We tried the best that we could to make sure that all departments were balanced. There are some players that we had wanted to be part of the squad, but we couldn't get them," Tapera told Zimpapers Sports Hub.
"Mind you, these are very important games that we are facing, so you would need all your best players available. We reached out to Nyasha Mushekwi but the response was slow.
"We also talked to Knowledge Musona and he is unavailable as well. Besides, he is nursing an injury which made him miss the last three games for his team.
"Then there is Macauley Bonne, he asked to be excused. He indicated that he was currently changing clubs, so he asked to be excused so that he could facilitate a smooth transfer.
"It's important that we have the core of the squad. There were a few adjustments to the team that has been representing Zimbabwe of late.
"We respect what (Baltemar) Brito did in Rwanda (during the opening matches of the qualifiers against Rwanda and Nigeria) and we also respect what Norman Mapeza did in Malawi.
"So, we just looked at the core of the teams they deployed, and we worked with that, obviously with a few alterations."
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