OnSport Reporter
WARRIORS’ coach Michael Nees says it will not be easy to make into his squad after his assessment of the teams performances in the two friendly matches against Burkina Faso and Niger in Morocco.
The Warriors will play 2026 World Cup qualifiers in September and October before the Africa Cup of Nations finals in December and January next year and the German mentor says he also been monitoring the Young Warriors performance in the Cosafa Cup in South Africa.
They lost to 2-0 to Burkina Faso last Friday and drew 1-1 with Niger on Tuesday, games that Nees has said he was not worried about winning, but assessing the team’s performance and the new players that were part of the squad.
“It was too many new players again. That was (Isheanesu) Mauchi for the first time and Jonah Fabisch played under me the first time. I think he played really well. And we now have in this camp seven new national team players. I think 12 for the first time under me, that’s over half of the squad. And for that you need training. We were also looking at the Cosafa team, we were looking at options because in central midfield I think the whole country is a bit thin and I think he (Fabisch) showed that he really can compete at that level. I think we have one or two guys in South Africa in the team which beat Mozambique who also can enter that stage. Congratulations to the team,” Nees said.
He said he has been in liaison with coach Simon Marange, who is in charge of the squad in the Cosafa competition.
Nees said it is no longer time for experimenting and players will have to prove themselves at their various clubs across the globe and locally to make it into the squad for the upcoming assignments.
“I am in contact with the coach. So I think from that we found more depth in the squad and everybody now must pull up his socks the next six months. And to be in the squad, it’s going to be a tough fight. One thing is for sure, I cannot now experiment anymore. It was a big, big risk from me. It was a big risk also from the federation, but we discussed that before. We want to do that. We want to increase the depth in the squad. This June period is the only period where you can do that. Then it continues with the qualification campaign and then we have six, eight more guys back and then it’s a different level,” Nees said.
Captains Marshall Munetsi and Marvelous Nakamba were not part of the squad in Morroco, so was Knowledge Musona, Munashe Garananga, Jordan Zemura and Divine Lunga.
Goalkeeper Elvis Chipezeze, Bill Antonio and Tino Kadewere made a return to the squad that also had Terrence Dzvukamanja and new faces Sean Fusire, locally-based players Mason Mushore and Tawanda Macheke among others.
Goalkeeper Marley Tavaziva played his debut for the Warriors against Niger.
