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Callisto Pasuwa

Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor
AS is fast becoming the norm, the Warriors training camp suffered another false start with their 2016 African Nations Championships preparations remaining in limbo as the programme outlined by coach Callisto Pasuwa failed to take off on Monday. Pasuwa tabled his programme to ZIFA three weeks ago with the coach insisting that he wanted his charges to get together soon after the end of the Castle Lager Premiership season.

But with elections to choose a new ZIFA leadership taking centre stage in the last few weeks, the home-based Warriors have been pushed into the shade with the coach and his troops literally “waiting for the rain’’. Pasuwa yesterday revealed he was concerned by the delay in having the CHAN preparations take off.

Zimbabwe, making a record fourth successive CHAN appearance, were drawn in Group D against northern neighbours and perennial rivals Zambia, West African giants Mali and East African soccer kings Uganda. The tournament will be hosted by Rwanda from January 16 to February 7 and Pasuwa’s men will play all their group games in the 5-000 seater Umuganda Stadium in Gisenyi.

Gisenyi is a city in Rubabvu district in Rwanda’s Western Province and had according to a 2012 population figures, 106 000 people residing there. The Warriors will begin their bid for CHAN silverware in Gisenyi with a showdown against old enemies Chipolopolo on January 19 before they take on the Eagles of Mali on January 23 at the same venue.

Pasuwa’s men, who are not changing stadiums, will then wind up their group assignments with a clash against the Uganda Cranes. But before he can look at all those fixtures Pasuwa wants his men to be in the right shape to try and better the record which the class of 2014 achieved under Ian Gorowa in Cape Town, South Africa.

Gorowa’s men finished fourth in the competition that was won by Libya, who however, will not be defending the title in Rwanda after crashing out of the qualifiers. Pasuwa said yesterday that while it is their ambition to do better and reach the final next year and even win the CHAN tournament, he was worried about the senior team’s lack of preparedness.

The four-time Premiership championship-winning coach said the Warriors were already behind schedule arguing that by this time in 2013 they had already started preparations for the South Africa edition of the CHAN tournament. “I have been to ZIFA several times to check on progress but sadly nothing has been forthcoming and I am now just waiting to hear from them.

“By this time during the last CHAN tournament we were already in camp. We cannot wait to be in camp for just a week before the tournament starts,’’ Pasuwa said. The former Dynamos coach said Zimbabwe needed to draw major lessons from the Warriors’ disastrous 2015 COSAFA Cup campaign in South Africa where a hastily assembled squad that travelled under the guidance of assistant coaches Saul Chaminuka and Nation Dube crashed out at the group stage after being humiliated 4-1 by Namibia in Rustenberg.

“Look at how disastrous our 2015 COSAFA Cup campaign was. It was all because of lack of preparations and when you are playing in a tournament you might have one or two positive results yes but if you have not prepared well, it catches up with you as the tournament progresses.

“That is not what we want when we go to Rwanda. “We are already behind time and even two weeks of camp will not be enough if we are to succeed hence I am saying there is need for us to quickly go into camp. “People should not look back at some of the good results we have posted at times without adequate training and think that we will always ride on our luck,’’ Pasuwa said.

The Warriors gaffer said he also needed to have all the payers he has called up in his provisional squad, checked by the medical team. “We have just finished a long Premiership season and we don’t know who has knocks and the extent of the injuries and I wanted the players to come in early so that the doctors can do their checks and we make adjustments to the squad on time if the need arises.

“The players are now off-season and if they are not in camp, some of them can resort to drinking alcohol and if we delay preparations, it would be like starting all over again in terms of getting them into the right condition yet like I said time is not on our side.

“We also need to work on the combinations’’. Pasuwa is also aware that he might lose some of the players he has included in his squad with some of them looking to join clubs outside the country particularly in South Africa. With the CHAN being a tournament exclusively for those players plying their trade in their national leagues, anyone who gets a deal with a club outside the country would effectively be ruled out of the competition in Rwanda and Pasuwa is wary of the possibility of such movements.

The Warriors coach, however, remained hopeful that the new ZIFA board would put the senior team’s preparations among their list of priority areas and ensure their camp get underway.

Provincial Warriors CHAN squad:
Goalkeepers: E. Chipezeze (Chicken Inn), T. Mukuruva (Dynamos), T. Mawaya (Hwange), D. Bernard (How Mine)

Defenders: S. Makatuka, H. Zvirekwi (Caps United), B. Kangwa, T. Hadebe (Highlanders FC), O. Mushure, B. Moyo, E. Muroiwa (Dynamos), L. Mhlanga (Chicken Inn ), F. Madhananga (Flame Lily)

Midfielders: N. Masuku (Highlanders), T. Chipunza, T. Kutinyu, G. Majika, D. Phiri (Chicken Inn), R. Chitiyo (Dynamos), R. Manuvire (ZPC Kariba), M. Mudehwe, G. Takwara (FC Platinum), W.Manondo (Harare City), J. Ngodzo (CAPS United), H. Bakacheza (Triangle United)

Strikers: P. Mpelele (Hwange), R. Mutuma (Dynamos), E. Chirambadare (Chicken Inn), B. Muzondiwa (FC Platinum), F. Zekumbawira (Harare City), K. Mutizwa (Highlanders), M. Demera (Flame Lily)