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Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter

WITH the next international break set for next year while our local premiership season is yet to kickoff, locally based players need to rise to the occasion in the Chan set to be held in Cameroon between January and February next year.

It was originally set to be held in April this year but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

It will be a busy 2021 for the Warriors who also have World Cup qualifiers to think about.

The Warriors were drawn in Group G alongside neighbours South Africa, West African giants Ghana and Ethiopia.

Zimbabwe qualified for the group phase round of the qualifiers after beating Somalia 3-2 on aggregate in the first round of the qualifiers.

The World Cup qualifiers should start in May.

With Warriors coach Zdravko Logorisic overlooking some of the local players due to their lack of inactivity, the Chan tournament will be the perfect opportunity for local players to prove their worth.

The Chan squad should be announced anytime soon with the players expected to troop into camp next week.

Judging from the back to back encounters against Algeria, the Chan tournament could be the perfect opportunity for some local players to put thier names in the hat.

Logarusic may have passed his initiation test but there are a number of puzzles he needs to solve in a bid to build a formidable side and perhaps some local players could bring him answers.

What is clear from the two Algeria matches is that Logarusic is yet to come up with a list of his trusted men from the squad he had called up.

From the disputed starting line up, on point second half substitutions and tactics , Prince Dube’s late magic, in the second game, all pointed to the coache’s potential to succeed with the national team.

Ofcourse, he needs time to implement his philosophy and system but there may be little time to achieve that before the Warriors are called back to action.

The only way to achieve that would be to play as many international friendly matches as possible.

However, the next international break is scheduled for March, that certainly should worry the coach.

With the Chan tournament and probably the mini league coming up local players have a chance to make a claim for national selection.

Zimbabwe earned a crucial point against Algeria, one that they should build on into the next calender year.

For Algeria the point was enough to book their place at the next AFCON finals on 10 points, while the Warriors now have to battle with Botswana and Zambia for the final slot.

The Warriors have accumulated five points, from four games, Botswana are in third place, with four points and Zambia are on three points

The final round of the fixtures will be played next year.

Zimbabwe will host the Zambians in Harare before travelling to Botswana for their final game.

Having kept hopes of qualification with a thrilling draw against Algeria, Logarusic certainly now has an idea of how he intends to form his side.