The Sunday Mail
Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE has until New Year’s Eve to send the 23-man Warriors squad for the Africa Cup of Nations finals, which are scheduled to begin in Cameroon on January 9.
The Warriors open their campaign against Sadio Mane’s Senegal on January 10.
According to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) regulations, all participating nations have to send their final squads 10 days before their first match.
Norman Mapeza, who was in charge of the Warriors on an interim basis for the national team’s last four World Cup qualifiers, selected the enlarged 40-man squad that has provisionally been registered with CAF.
Although Mapeza’s initial short-term deal with ZIFA had ended after the Warriors’ last World Cup qualifier against Ethiopia, it has emerged that the FC Platinum gaffer has been tasked to continue with AFCON preparations.
The Warriors’ coach’s duties will not be affected by the ongoing impasse between ZIFA and the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC), as the senior team’s administration is handled at secretariat level.
In fact, ZIFA have a full-time general manager for all national teams — Wellington Mpandare — who operates from the association’s headquarters.
He has since sent invitation letters to clubs.
“The final 23 squad has to be submitted 10 days before our first game, so it should be by December 31.
“The 40 players were selected by Mapeza and his technical team. The final 23 will be selected from these 40,” he said.
Although Mpandare could not disclose the 40 players, it is most likely Mapeza will trust most of the players he worked with during his interim tenure.
The Warriors are in Group B together with giants Senegal, Guinea and Malawi.
They open their account with a clash against “The Lions of Teranga” on January 10 before playing Malawi’s Flames four days later.
Mapeza and his men will then complete their group games with a date against Guinea on January 18.
The Football Association of Malawi (FAM) have already begun fundraising for US$1,8 million needed for their tour of duty.
Part of the money will come from government and the Flames official sponsor, FDH Bank, including participation grants from CAF.
Meanwhile, there are genuine fears that European-based players could be barred from flying back to Africa for the finals because of the emergence of the omicron variant.
According to The Guardian, Europe’s clubs intend to engage FIFA after raising concerns over player safety at the AFCON.
If the clubs get their way, this could affect the availability of Zimbabwe’s key players such as Marvelous Nakamba, who has been rejuvenated under Steven Gerrard at Aston Villa.
Jordan Zemura and the France-based duo of Marshall Munetsi and Tino Kadewere are among the Warriors’ European legion that could also be affected.
Meanwhile, reports from Zambia indicate that they are closely following the stand-off between ZIFA and the SRC with the hope that it might possibly culminate in a FIFA ban, which could open a backdoor for Chipolopolo to sneak into the finals.
Zambia finished third in Group H of the AFCON qualifiers behind group leaders Algeria and Zimbabwe, while Botswana anchored the log table.
