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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter

The Warriors will kick-off their Cosafa Cup journey against Mozambique at the Isaac Wolfson Stadium on July 8 and will be hoping for a positive start as they seek to capture the regional tournament, they surrendered to Zambia in 2019.

Chipolopolo were crowned regional champions following a 1-0 victory over Botswana to take their Cosafa cup winning record to five, one less than the Warriors, who are on six.

After the opening match against Mozambique, coach Zdravko Logarušić’s charges will face Namibia at NMB Stadium on July 11 before winding up their Group C duties with a tie against tournament guests Senegal on July 14.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, all matches will be played behind closed doors without any fans or media, except broadcasting teams since the matches will be flighted live on SuperSport.

“We are in the third wave, so it means our protocols must be strictly adhered to. Everyone that will be coming into the bio-secure environment will have to produce a negative Covid-19 certificate. That includes players, team officials, Cosafa staff and all volunteers,” Safa’s chief medical officer Thulani Ngwenya told Cosafa.com.

According to a statement from Cosafa, at the end of the group stages, everyone that remains will have to have a second round of tests. There will be four rounds of testing in all.

The organisers said there will not be more that 100 people at the match venue, teams included, and everyone must adhere to the protocols.

People showing symptoms of Covid-19 will be isolated and tested. The isolation period is 10 days and after that they can be tested again to return to the bio-secure environment.

The Warriors’ technical team is expected to announce its squad today or tomorrow ahead of camp on Monday.

The team is expected to remain in camp until departure for South Africa on July 5, three days before the opening match against Mozambique.

Locally based stars and those playing in South Africa and Zambia are set to dominate Logarušić’s squad.