The Sunday News
Ishemunyoro Chingwere
KALLISTO Pasuwa has a special relationship with a clique of players he has nurtured from boys into men.
The Zimbabwe national senior men’s soccer team gaffer looks set to reward his young brigade for their loyalty with places in the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations final squad.
Pasuwa was appointed National Under-23 coach on August 15, 2014, replacing Peter Ndlovu who had joined Mamelodi Sundowns as team manager.
As he took up the task, the former Dynamos coach highlighted that his major task was to groom players for the senior national team.
Two years down the line, Young Turks like Golden Arrows star Kuda Mahachi; goalkeepers Tatenda Mukuruva and Donovan Bernard; and Tinotenda Kadewere, Malvern Gaki, Blessing Moyo, Lawrence Mhlanga and Teenage Hadebe are firmly in the Warriors mix.
Pasuwa says many of these lads will be in Gabon come January 2017.
Speaking ahead of today’s friendly international against Tanzania at the National Sports Stadium in Harare, the Warriors coach said, “Certainly we will have most of them travelling to the Afcon finals. Building a team is a long process, which I can say started in 2014 and we can’t just chop them from the team today because we are now going for a major tournament.
“What we are doing now is putting final touches to the project and it’s important to understand that as Zimbabwe we don’t get to play a number of preparatory matches so as a coach I am tempted to keep faith in a group that understands each other better.”
Pasuwa added that he chose to stick with players who had proven their loyalty to him and the national flag.
“I am not saying these guys are special but you have to remember they used to play for free; all they would get after a fine day in office was just a pat on the back.
“Match-fixing is real so having seen these guys growing up sharing the same dreams with them, I don’t think anything can now come between them and that desire to do well for their country and individual careers.
“Remember some of them are now playing abroad; the dream can only go on and for those that are yet to make the breakthrough. They can look at their colleagues and find inspiration,” said Pasuwa.
Caps United left-back Ronald Pfumbidzai is another player who starred for Pasuwa’s U-23 squad but he is down the perking order, having been overlooked for today’s friendly against Tanzania.
The left-back position appears to be a two-horse race between Supersport United’s Onismor Bhasera and Tanzania-based Bruce Kangwa.
The Warriors gaffer will use the friendly against the Taifa Stars to afford players such Tino Kadewere and Oscar Machapa a chance to present their cases, having not been part of the successful Afcon qualification campaign.
Although he would have loved to play against North African opposition such as Egypt or Morocco, who play more or less the same style as Afcon rivals Tunisia and Algeria, Pasuwa was content with facing Tanzania.
“We won’t be looking at the result against Tanzania, but there are some aspects of our game which we want to see and polish.
For example I want to see how we retain possession and keep the ball away from the opponent.
“We also want to see how we play at the back, polish our ability to keep in shape even under pressure and things like that,” said the four-time local league winning coach.
