Nees to name squad

Tadious Manyepo, Harare Bureau
WARRIORS coach, Michael Nees, is closely monitoring possible national team candidates and used the weekend to finalise his squad for the Fifa 2026 World Cup qualifying assignments.

Nees is on Wednesday expected to announce an enlarged squad for the African Zone Group C qualifiers against Benin and Nigeria.

Zimbabwe will first play host to Benin at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, South Africa on March 20 before they play Nigeria in Uyo, five days later.

Nees, presiding over a World Cup assignment with Zimbabwe for the first time, has a huge task to help the Warriors move from the bottom of Group C where they have only two points, five behind leaders Rwanda after four games.

But the 57-year-old German gaffer deliberately delayed announcing his men for the two assignments as he sought to first monitor the readiness, of the players, especially those playing on the domestic front.

The Castle Lager Premiership is only two weeks old after a two months off-season break and Nees is, rightly concerned about the players’ match-fitness levels, which he first wanted to analyse before making any move.

Last week, the former Seychelles gaffer, watched three games and is in line to observing three more including the showdown between CAPS United and Scottland at Rufaro today.

Nees said the Warriors have three groups of players including the overseas-based, the local contingent and those based in South Africa and Tanzania.

“We have a diverse team. I said it before, a three group team, diverse in terms of three groups, you have a group from overseas that is Europe, Teenage (Hadebe) also from USA and General (Gerald Takwara) now in Iraq. Then we have the South African group. Then yeah, to this group and then we have the local group.

“Every group, the situation is different.

“For the local group, the season hasn’t yet started properly. It just started last week. So, we watched three games (last week). Here is the mystery with me, three games. We drove up and down. Three games. It was right, yeah, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. This week, I’m also watching three games. But, I already said it in November that my worry was always that the (local) players might not yet be in the right shape. I already expressed that.

“I predicted that already, because I cannot even check a player properly over two, three matches before I announce the squad. Basically, it’s like a blind flight. You pick players and you aren’t sure, are they fit? Are they this or that? Very difficult.”

While there are doubts over the fitness levels of the locally-based guns, the foreign-based are in the business end of their campaigns.

Resultantly, the coach’s concerns are on injuries.

Among the local players Nees is keen to assess is Scottland hotshot Khama Billiat, who missed the opening weekend against Triangle.

Khama Billiat

Billiat could play just once, if he makes it into today’s fixture against CAPS United before Nees announces his squad.
The other homegrown talent includes Godknows Murwira, Richard Hachiro, Brian Banda, Martin Mapisa, Walter Musona and Emmanuel Jalai.

“Then we have the group, the other two groups, their leagues are running. Yes, that is not such a problem. You can easily observe, you know, in Teenage’s league, they now already have four or five games in the season, so they are in season and not yet 100 percent at the end, but there shouldn’t be a problem so.

“Every group has its own challenges and that’s why I could not announce the squad earlier.”
Skipper, Marvelous Nakamba, remains a doubt although Nees wants the Warriors doctors to have a look at him before they conclude that he is indeed out for six weeks.