CANADIAN players, goalkeeper Jean-Felix Lemieux and striker Phillippe Barriault, are expected in Zimbabwe on Friday and will be training with 2013 Mbada Diamonds Cup champions Highlanders.
THANDIWE MOYO OWN CORRESPONDENT
First Mobile Sports Academy director Isaac Mbedzi confirmed the players would be in the country, but did not say how long they would be attached to Bosso.
“We are expecting the players on January 17 and they will be attached to the Highlanders senior team,” he said.
“They will train with the team and it would be up to Highlanders if they want to use the players during the season.”
Lemieux and Barriault were part of the First Mobile team that took part in last year’s AC Milan Continental Cup in which they finished as runners-up.
Barriault was the top goalscorer with five goals at the tournament which was held in Cleveland, Ohio, US, last year.
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“We would have brought three players, but Beyechevel Bamana is going for trials at Ipswich while we are still to confirm whether Victor Munashe will be joining the two,” he said.
Mbedzi said the players were excited to be coming to Bulawayo to train with the former league champions.
“We are preparing for a tournament which will be held in July and this will be a good way for the boys to prepare,” he said.
“The players are excited to be coming here. It would also be good for the images of both organisations.”
Highlanders chairman Peter Dube said they were aware of the project although they still had to have some issues clarified.
“The project was presented to the club. As far as I was concerned it was a proposal. There are issues that are still to be clarified such as their welfare when they get here and what the terms and conditions of their visit are,” he said.
Bosso has in the past benefited from exchange programmes that saw players such as Andrew Shue and Kelly Jacobson from the United States donning the black and white jersey.
Meanwhile, Mbedzi said First Mobile Academy would be taking part in two tournaments, the Gothia Cup in Sweden and the Dana Cup in Denmark and they have two places for a player in the southern region and another from any part of the the country.
The tournaments will be held on July 13 to 19 for the Gothia Cup and July 21-26 for the Dana Cup.
“We are starting our preparations for the two tournaments which will be held in Sweden and Denmark. We have reserved two places for players from Zimbabwe. One will come from the southern region and the other from any region in the country,” Mbedzi said.
He said they had a network of people in the different provinces to identify players that would join them for the two tournaments.
“We always give Highlanders first preference, but we will be looking at mainly the big teams that have good players,” he said.
“Our aim of bringing the players to train here and taking players to the two tournaments is so that we increase our network and expose the players both locally and internationally.”
As part of preparations, the academy will engage FC Brugge on July 6 or 7 and are still to confirm dates with Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht.