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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter

ASTON Villa mid-fielder Marvelous Nakamba is among the early birds to report for national duty ahead of the Warriors’ international friendly match against Malawi this Sunday.

The 26-year-old posted pictures on his Instagram account, en-route to Zimbabwe, with the caption “National Duty”. He is expected to arrive in the country late in the afternoon on Thursday.

Defender Teenage Hadebe who is based in Turkey also took to the social media to inform the nation of his availability for the match. Hadebe, who is expected to fly directly to Malawi, also posted a picture at the airport with the caption “When duty calls…”

Teenage Hadebe

Nakamba and Hadebe are some of the few internationals that have heeded the call for national duty despite the bungling by ZIFA in sending out the invitation letters late.

Nakamba comes with confidence high after he featured in his side’s historic 7-2 win over the reigning English Premiership champions Liverpool as a late substitute last Sunday.

Zimbabwe have been invited by Malawi for an international friendly during this FIFA window. The match will take place at the Kamuzu Stadium on Sunday.

Warriors coach Zdravko Logarusic was expected to name his travelling squad on Thursday afternoon.

The international friendly is meant to prepare the Warriors for the upcoming back-to-back 2021 AFCON qualifiers against African champions Algeria next month.

The Croat told The Herald on Wednesday evening that his plans were upset after a number of foreign-based professionals failed to make it for the international friendly. He has working on a revised list since he arrived in the country on Monday.

Marvelous Nakamba

“The last two days we were working very hard to try and see which players can come on time so that we can have players in the camp.

“Some players travelled during the night, some will come in the morning and others in the afternoon and I hope Friday morning we will travel to Malawi.

“I am expecting also to have a press conference tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon so that we explain which problems we were facing.

“So many players couldn’t come because of such a short notice, also because we didn’t know exactly whether the Government would give us the greenlight or not.

“We are checking which players can come here quickly. Some players will wait for us in Malawi, some of them are already on the road. We expect to hold a press conference in the afternoon (Thursday),” said Logarusic.

While Logarusic has insisted on holding the press conference, ZIFA are not keen and have indicated they may send a press statement on the team announcement later in the day.