The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE national men’s football team coach, Zdravko Logarusic is today expected to announce the Warriors squad for the 20th edition of the Cosafa Cup to be held in South Africa next month.
Warriors team manager, Wellington Mpandare said a squad of 25 players will be announced this morning with camp to start tomorrow. A mixture of local and foreign based players is expected to be named. A squad of 20 players is heading off to South Africa on 5 July, which means from those to be announced today, five will be dropped.
“We are announcing the squad tomorrow (today). It will be a mix of local and some foreign based players. It’s a squad of 25 players that is getting into camp on Monday and departure for South Africa is the 5th of July,’’ Mpandare said.
Some of the foreign based players expected in Logarusic’s squad are United States of America based midfielder Nyasha Dube, the 23-year-old son of Hwange legend, Nation Dube. The versatile Dube plays for Little Rock Rangers, a team that plays in the USL Two. Little Rock Rangers recently announced that the midfielder has been called up to the Zimbabwe national team.
Nyasha Dube in action for Little Rock Rangers
“Rangers midfielder, Nyasha Dube, has been called up to represent his national team of Zimbabwe for the Southern Africa Football Association tournament. Dube will arrive on June 27 for camp. Best of luck to Nyasha,’’ Little Rock Rangers posted.
Last Wednesday, the Hwange born Dube was named Man of the Match when Rangers defeated AHFC Royals 1-0 in a league encounter played at the War Memorial Stadium.
“Covering the entire pitch for 90 minutes is a normal thing for @nyasha_dube_! Creating chances is what he does for fun! Dube is named the Man of the Match for tonight’s 1-0 win over AHFC Royals,’’ wrote his club after last Wednesday fixture.
Washington Arubi
Goalkeeper Washington Arubi who plays for Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila in South Africa’s DStv Premiership is another player expected to be named in the squad. The 35-year played an instrumental role in TTM winning the Nedbank Cup when they defeated Chippa United in the final, which saw them qualify for next season’s Caf Confederation Cup. He kept four clean sheets out of the five matches they played. Arubi went on to win the Nedbank Cup Player of the Tournament, which saw him pocket R150 000.
Nyasha Dube in action
Lamontville Golden Arrows striker Knox Mutizwa and club-less Evans Rusike are the other foreign based players who should be in the Warriors squad. The two got limited opportunities during the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and Logarusic should be eager to add to his options upfront ahead of the start of the 2022 World Cup qualification process in September. SuperSport United last Monday announced that they had parted ways with Rusike.
Evans Rusike
Arrows confirmed that Mutizwa had been called up for national team duty and congratulated him on his call-up.
“Knox Mutizwa has been called up for national duty from 27 June to 19 July as Zimbabwe take on Senegal, Mozambique and Namibia in a number of Cosafa tournament games. Well done Knox, we are proud to have you represent your country,’’ posted Arrows.
Knox Mutizwa
Logarusic has expressed his desire to use the Cosafa Cup to strengthen the squad for the World Cup qualifiers as well as next year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
“We are using this tournament to try to make our squad stronger for World Cup qualification and Afcon tournament.
We’ll give chances to players who are showing potential to become future stars and those who didn’t get minutes during Afcon qualifiers,’’ Logarusic recently said.
Zimbabwe, the most successful team in the Cosafa having won the regional competition six times since it started in 1997 go up against the Mambas of Mozambique in their opening match on 8 July. The Warriors face Namibia at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on 11 July before they clash with West African guest nation Senegal three days later.
The winner of Group A, which includes, South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana and Eswatini, will take on the best runner-up in the semis, with the victors in Groups B (Zambia, Malawi, Comoros, Madagascar) up against the winners of Group C (Senegal, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique).
Losing semifinalists will be involved in the bronze-medal match on July 18, with the final to be staged later in the day. Both matches are at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, a 2010 Fifa World Cup venue. — @Mdawini_29
