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Fungai Muderere, [email protected]

WANTING disciplinary deportment has reportedly seen Elton Chikona and Leon Daka being released from the Zimbabwe Under-20 men’s national team training camp and were unable to travel with the rest of the squad to Malawi for the Four-Nations tournament that kicked off today.

The contest, which also features hosts Malawi, Kenya and Zambia, will be a vigorous examination for the Young Warriors as they continue their development under new head coach Simon Marange.

At club level Chikona does duty for Dynamos and Daka is in the books of Herentals College.

“Elton Chikona (Dynamos FC) and Leon Daka (Herentals FC) have been released from the Under-20 men’s national team training camp and were unable to accompany the team to Malawi due to breaches in team protocols. While this situation is regrettable, ZIFA considers it a vital disciplinary measure in its efforts to instil a new team culture characterised by respect for coaches, teammates, and a strong commitment to discipline,” announced Zifa through their social media pages.

Last year, in what many thought was a giant spring for Chikona, the young player, then aged 18,  was reported to have attracted  European interest and was set to play in Finland. He was to become the second DeMbare youngster in recent years, after Belgium based Bill Antonio to be recruited by a European club at a tender age.

In the past season, Chikona weighed in with a couple of goals for DeMbare after being handed some cameo roles.

He is the same player who was disqualified from the Marvelous Nakamba tournament after issues arose around his age two years ago.

The Young Warriors squad feature a mixture of thrilling prospects from largely local football.

The country’s football motherbody, Zifa , is confident that the competition will provide valuable international exposure for the young players and help them gel.

Coach Marange currently serves as the Orlando Pirates reserve team coach. He was promoted from the Under-21s of Orlando Pirates whom he coached from 2020-2023.

Between 2018-2020, Marange was the Under-17 coach of Orlando Pirates, winning the Future Champions Trophy, beating Osasuna, Club Brugge and Spartak Moscow on the way to the final in a tournament boasting the likes of FC Barcelona and Atlético Madrid as former winners.

-@FungaiMuderere