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yesterday rallied the nation to embrace a Class of Young Warriors that could open a new era of football success stories in this country.

Young Warriors’ manager Wellington Mpandare boldly declared that the country had just found the players who could form the backbone of the team good enough to qualify for the 2014 World Cup finals.
Hard-running forward Rusike, who plays for South African side Jomo Cosmos, is the second member of this Young Warriors team to attract the attention of a European club.

Midfielder Archford Gutu was the first when he spent three weeks on trials in Bulgaria.
Now Rusike has been handed a golden chance to break into the English Premiership after Bolton Wanderers agreed to assess him when he completes his assignment for the Young Warriors in South Africa this weekend.

The Young Warriors are expected to fly out to Johannesburg this morning for their All-Africa Games final qualifier, first leg encounter against Amagluglug at Mashinini Stadium in Benoni on Saturday.
Rusike spent most of the day trying to get a British visa yesterday to enable him to travel to England.

Mpandare told journalists in Harare yesterday that the striker will leave for trials at Bolton Wanderers after the match in South Africa on Saturday.
Interestingly, former Zimbabwe Warriors’ captain Benjani Mwaruwari travelled the same path, joining Jomo Cosmos, before sealing deals in Europe, which eventually saw him play for Portsmouth, Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers in the English Premiership.

Zifa boss Dube reiterated yesterday that his association will never neglect the national Under-23 squad and last night boosted the Young Warriors’ spirits by paying them their outstanding bonuses ahead of their trip to South Africa this morning.
Friday Phiri’s charges had been owed winning bonuses from their previous assignments in this campaign against Botswana and Zambia.

But Dube ensured the Young Warriors would be in high spirits, as they seek to clear the last hurdle for a place at the All-Africa Games finals in Maputo, Mozambique in September.
With Zifa still struggling for funding, Dube had to once gain bail out the association when he forked out US$11 000 from his personal resources last night to pay the Young Warriors their outstanding bonuses.
The money was handed to Young Warriors’ team manager Wellington Mpandare in the presence of Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze.

Earlier in the afternoon, Dube had hosted a reception for the Young Warriors, touted as one of the most talented team of their generation.
Dube also promised that he would add onto the incentives that Zifa had promised the Young Warriors should they win, or at least draw, against South Africa in Saturday’s encounter.
The Zifa boss, however, used the occasion of the send-off to make another passionate appeal to the Government and the corporate world to help his cash-strapped association to fund the various national teams.

Zifa will need to cater for the Warriors, who are still in the reckoning in the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign, as well as the Mighty Warriors who have already sealed a place at the Maputo Games.
“The time is now for sponsors to come on board. We have been trying to rebuild our structures at Zifa and clean up our image… it is not something you can do in a day, Rome was not built in a day.
“Even the fans who had deserted us are beginning to come back as evidenced by the large turnout in the game against Mali at Rufaro and we will try to be as transparent as we can.

“In other countries Governments are pouring millions to support football and we have not received any cent from the government this year and to add to our woes we are losing a lot of money through levies and service charges which are very high.
“We have engaged the Government on this matter,” Dube said

The Zifa boss dismissed assertions that his board was neglecting the Young Warriors arguing that any association that ignored its future senior national team “would be doing so at its own peril”.
“It would be foolish on our part to neglect this crop of young players. I’m looking after all the national teams in the country and the Young Warriors are not an exception because if we fail to recognise them then we are foolish.

“In my small and big heart the Young Warriors are extremely important because this is our team for the future.
“From my Buymore business, I’m promising you money if you win or draw against South Africa,” Dube said.
The Young Warriors will face a South Africa side that is in buoyant mood after they overturned a 3-1 first leg deficit to thump Benin 5-1 in an Olympic Games qualifier.

But Young Warriors coach Friday Phiri, who watched that match, has expressed confidence in the abilities of his own team and maintains that they will not be intimidated by Amaglug-glug’s destruction of Benin.
After all the Young Warriors have a host of players who are so talented they could make the grade in any of South Africa’s Premiership teams.
Phiri named his final travelling party prior to yesterday’s send-off with Mamelodi Sundowns new signing Simba Sithole expected to lead the line of attack that also includes Rusike.

The Young Warriors were further boosted by the news that a fundraising committee has been put in place to mobilise resources for all the junior national teams.
The committee is headed by Calvin Nyazema and includes treasurer John Bere and committee members Wellington Mpandare, Pauline Matute and Innocent Rwodzi.
Nyazema and Bere said their immediate task would be to ensure they assist the Young Warriors to clear the South Africa hurdle by mobilising resources for them.

“We have just come on board and although we could not provide for them for the first leg our immediate task is to ensure that the team qualifies for the All-Africa Games.
“We will look for the incentives for the team for their second leg against South Africa.

“We challenge the corporate world to partner us in mobilising the resources for junior football in our country,” Nyazema said.
Bere said they would also try to source for training equioment and kits for the Young Warriors and other junior national teams.

“We want to provide the team with training kits, medical equipment, food whilst they are in camp, allowances and appearance fees,” said Bere.
There however, no major changes to the team that was released by team manager Mpandare yesterday with the coaches opting to stick with the bulk of the side that has been doing in this campaign.

The team manager introduced his team, during the send-off, as the side that will take Zimbabwe to the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil.
The Young Warriors have also been boosted by the presence of Ajax Cape Town winger Tafadzwa Rusike and the return from suspension of Dynamos midfield kingpin Gutu.

Skipper Qadr Amini, England-based Trevor Mutero, Monomotapa defender Knowledge Machona and Black Mambas midfielder Abbas Amidu have all been retained the side.

Young Warriors travelling party:
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Ariel Sibanda, Liberty Chirava
Defenders: Lincoln Zvasiya, Qadr Amini, Obey Mwerahari, Knowledge Machona, Morris Kadzola.
Midfielders: Joel Ngodzo, Abbas Amidu, Devon Chafa, Timire Mamvura, Archieford Gutu, Russel Madamombe, Tafadzwa Rusike, Trevor Mutero.
Strikers: Simba Sithole, Matthew Rusike, Ngonidzashe Maviri.
Technical:
Head coach: Friday Phiri,
Assistant coach: Darlington Dodo
Goalkeepers’ coach: Peter Nkomo
Team manager: Wellington Mpandare
Team doctor: Nathan Makanza
Medic: Nadu Mutefuro
Head of delegation: Fungai Chihuri.