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lanky international remaining in the senior team’s plans ahead of their final African Cup of Nations qualifier against Cape Verde in Praia.
The Warriors, second in Group A, will take on the third-placed Atlantic Ocean islanders in a decisive encounter in Praia on October 8 where Norman Mapeza’s men not only need to win but will be praying that the result of the other group match pitting leaders Mali and basement side Liberia go in their favour.

But the Warriors, who need their strongest side, were last week rocked by the news that one of their best players in the 2012 Nations Cup qualifying campaign – Karuru – had suffered a partial tear in his ankle which threatened to rule him out of the crucial assignment.
Initial indications were that Karuru, who sustained the injury while in training for his French Ligue 2 club US Boulogne would be out of action for two weeks, making him a huge doubt for the trip Praia.

There were also further indications that US Boulogne were expecting Karuru to only resume training three days before the Warriors go into battle against Cape Verde.
However, Warriors manager Sharrif Mussa said yesterday that the senior team’s technical department was not pressing the panic button just yet as Karuru had been making remarkable progress and had resumed training.

Mussa said they were now expecting the former Masvingo United and Gunners midfielder, who had man-of-the-match performances in the Warriors’ last two assignments against Mali and Liberia, to resume full training over the weekend.
The Warriors manager also revealed that he was constantly in touch with Karuru as part of their monitoring efforts and was happy to hear that the midfielder was making progress and had remained bullish about his

availability for the must win tie.
Mussa, an affable manager, who enjoys a good working relationship with everyone in the Warriors dressing room said the player had also shown great determination to try and help his national team in their final onslaught on the Nations Cup qualification bid.

“I have been in touch with Ovidy and he has been showing progress and indicated that he has started some training. He should start more serious training from this weekend onwards.
“Obviously the medical team will do their own assessments of him but everyday I will be in touch with him so that we know on time whether he is going to be in or out by the time we fly out to Cape Verde.

“As it is he remains part of the 18-man side that was picked by coaches for this assignment. So like I said we will continuously monitor him but we are not pressing the panic button yet and if things do not really improve to the coach’s satisfaction he will obviously let us know if he has any other plans,” Mussa said.
The Warriors are also expecting to welcome back the trio of talismanic forward Knowledge Musona, Mamelodi Sundowns striker Nyasha Mushekwi and Kaizer Chiefs centre back Thomas Sweswe, who missed the senior team’s penultimate qualifier against Liberia at the National Sports Stadium.

In that game Willard Katsande, Khama Billiat and Karuru struck to give the Warriors victory and crucially the hope that they could still secure a place at the Nations Cup finals to be co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. But Musona was absent due to a hamstring injury while Mushekwi and Sweswe were serving one match suspensions for having received two yellow cards each in the earlier games.

Musona has since recovered and featured in two matches for his new German Bundesliga club TSG Hoffeinheim, making second half substitute appearances in both games.
Although he is still to score his maiden goal in the Bundesliga, Musona’s return to competitive action is no doubt sweet news to Mapeza and the Warriors.
Mushekwi has also been getting game time at Sundowns while Sweswe has been in top form in the heart of the Kaizer Chiefs rearguard.

Recalled midfielder Tafadzwa Rusike has also found his form again at Ajax Cape Town and the diminutive forward highlighted his resurgence when scoring a cracking goal last Friday night in the Urban Warriors’ 3-1 triumph over Free State Stars.

After being overlooked for the back to back matches against Mali largely because of his lack of form and small frame, Rusike has forced his way back into the reckoning and came on as a substitute for speedy winger Quincy Antipas against Liberia. The former CAPS United star will now fancy his chances of also getting a run in the decisive encounter in Cape Verde. On that same Friday night, Rusike’s fellow Zimbabwean international Billiat, who has been enjoying fine form in the Absa Premiership, also found the target for Ajax Cape Town when scoring their third goal while Thulani Hlatshwayo had opened the scoring for the youthful outfit.