ONLY seven players came to the Warriors camp yesterday as the national team aborted the first day of training ahead of the international friendly match against Mozambique set for Barbourfields Stadium on Sunday. FORTUNE MBELE SPORTS REPORTER
Players from other centres were only expected in the city in the evening, leaving coach Ian Gorowa with only two days of training.
Opponents Mozambique also rescheduled their travel arrangements and will only be arriving in Bulawayo this afternoon.
The national team was supposed to assemble at the Zifa offices on Wednesday evening before being taken to their hotel.
However, players coming from Harare, including Gorowa and his assistants Kalisto Pasuwa and Mkhuphali “Mr Cooper” Masuku, had not arrived by yesterday afternoon.
Team manager Sharif Mussa said he was not with the team while the coaches’ mobile phones went unanswered.
“I am actually out of town. I am not with the team,” Mussa said yesterday morning.
Only seven players from Bulawayo — Chicken Inn’s Felix Chindungwe, Danny “Deco” Phiri and Kudakwashe Mahachi, Highlanders’ Munyaradzi Diya, Bruce Kangwa and Milton Ncube and Bantu Rovers’ Nqobizitha Masuku — pitched up at the Bulawayo Zifa offices at 10am and waited in a bus for close to two hours before leaving.
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The players said the only communication they had received was what they had to be at the Zifa offices by 10am after which there was no further communication, except what they had gathered from their teammates who were on their way from Harare.
They said they had only left the capital after 11am by road.
Hwange midfielder Nkosana Siwela will not be joining camp as he is in plaster. He was injured in Chipangano’s last league match against Motor Action at the Colliery. Gerald Ndlovu had also not arrived.
Ali Sadiki from FC Platinum, Pascal Manhanga and Misheck Mburayi of Triangle and Themba Ndlovu of Buffaloes could not be accounted for while How Mine’s Warren Dube and Simbarashe Sithole were also not in Bulawayo.
A Zifa official in Bulawayo confirmed that the Harare contingent had not arrived by Wednesday as scheduled and said they would be in Bulawayo the following morning. The Warriors itinerary would then be announced.
The football mother body’s communications manager Xolisani Gwesela, who had confirmed the Warriors were assembling in Bulawayo on Wednesday, downplayed the confusion and said travel arrangements had been rescheduled.
“I am reliably informed by the technical team that training will start tomorrow (today) morning at either Barbourfields Stadium or White City. Players are resting today. There has just been a change in travelling arrangements and everything has been sorted out. Players in Bulawayo are waiting for the rest of the team so that they are taken to their hotel,” Gwesela said.
On Wednesday, assistant coach Pasuwa had said they would be leaving the capital at 2pm, but there were logistical issues being dealt with and they would start training yesterday morning.
The friendly match against the Mambas of Mozambique is being used as part of the Warriors preparations for the African Nations Championships to be hosted by South Africa next month.
The players travelling from Harare are Partson Jaure, Simba Sithole, George Chigova, Wonder Kapinda, Lot Chiwunga and Hardlife Zvirekwi.
The Warriors have shifted base to Bulawayo for the next couple of matches as coach Gorowa is against the continued use of the artificial turf at Rufaro Stadium, which has been run down and outlived its lifespan.
