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WARRIORS coach Sunday Chidzambwa’s decision to include the cream of Zimbabwean footballers, including those based in Europe like captain Knowledge Musona in the squad for the defence of our COSAFA Cup crown in South Africa this month, has provoked mixed reactions.

There are some who feel the regional tournament, which we have won a record five-times, should be used as a platform to expose some of the fringe players, who are about to break into the mainstream Warriors team, to the challenges of international football.

Others even suggest that the tournament should be used merely for development purposes, where we can take our best teenage footballers, and make them take on their counterparts from the region, without worrying about the results and winning the tourney.

Given that our Under-17 and Under-20 national teams have been in limbo for some time now after their banishment from the regional tournaments when the previous ZIFA leadership bungled and failed to send them to fulfil their reverse fixtures, those who argue that the COSAFA Cup should be used as a platform to help these players’ transition into international football, appear to be singing the right songs.

They have been arguing that we have been repeatedly winning the COSAFA Cup and, while we should always infuse a culture into our footballers that they should try to win every game and tournament they play in, the long-term rewards of using the tournament as a developmental platform far outweigh the short-term dividends of winning the tourney using our established players.

Last year, Chidzambwa, who has helped us win this tournament three times as a coach and, crucially, has never lost a COSAFA Cup game, used a team that had some South Africa-based players and they found a way to rise from the qualifiers to win the tourney after an impressive 3-1 victory over Zambia in the final.

It was a change in what had been our usual approach, in the past decade, where we used to only field players from the domestic Premiership, for the COSAFA Cup and Chidzambwa said we paid a huge price for that as the teams we were sending to the tournament kept failing and we ended up being ranked among the lightweights who had to play the group games.

Mhofu decided to go for a different approach and brought in the influential South Africa-based players like goalkeeper George Chigova, defender Eric Chipeta and forwards Ovidy Karuru and Knox Mutizwa and the Warriors proved a class apart from their rivals at the last COSAFA Cup on their way to victory.

Mutizwa was named the best player of the tournament while Karuru won the Golden Boot with his six goals as he led from the front, as an inspirational skipper, with his goals and leadership qualities shining brightly at that tournament.

However, this year, Chidzambwa has decided to go for a different approach again and has drafted most of the big guns, including Musona, Khama Billiat, Marvelous Nakamba and Costa Nhamoinesu, who usually are only reserved for the Nations Cup and World Cup qualifiers.

The coach’s argument is that given that there is a FIFA World Cup this year, which will take place in June and July, there won’t be another chance for him to see how his star players, whom he wants to use for the AFCON qualifiers which resume in September, if he doesn’t use them at this COSAFA Cup.

While we agree that there is need to expose some of our emerging players to the challenges of international football, by using a tournament like the COSAFA Cup, we have to say that we agree with the coach’s plans because there won’t be another window of opportunity for him to see if some of his regular Warriors fit into the kind of football he wants them to play in the AFCON qualifiers.

There is no doubt that the AFCON qualifiers are more important than the COSAFA Cup, but we have to prepare adequately for the resumption of those tougher battles and the coach is right that, by fielding his star players at the regional event, he can get an idea of who fits and who doesn’t fit into the kind of system he wants to use when we face tougher opponents.

And, after all, our two best forwards, Musona and Billiat, haven’t played with each other for the Warriors since their appearance at the last AFCON finals in Gabon in January and February last year, because the latter was injured when we started our 2019 AFCON qualifying journey with a 3-0 demolition of Liberia.

Billiat has also missed a lot of action in the South African Premiership, because of injuries, and Mhofu is right that he needs some more competitive matches under his belt to get into the prime shape that we all want him to be when the AFCON qualifiers resume and a number of games at the COSAFA Cup could help him.

There is also the issue of the players who are being recruited from England and Mhofu is right to argue that by fielding them in the Warriors side at the COSAFA Cup, playing alongside some of the regular players, he can also get a good idea if they fit into the team he wants to use for the AFCON qualifiers.

Beyond just winning the COSAFA Cup, Mhofu has clearly demonstrated that he is planning for bigger things and his approach deserves the support of everyone.