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Fungai Muderere, [email protected]

ZIMBABWE’S Young Warriors will this afternoon lock horns with Malawi in the opening match of the Under-20 invitational tournament that kicks off at Lilongwe’s Silver Stadium.
Kick-off is 3pm.

Initially, four nations were scheduled to take part before Zambia withdrew their team citing logistical challenges, to leave hosts Malawi, Zimbabwe and Kenya as participants.

In that regard, the tournament becomes a round-robin event with the three remaining countries now scheduled to play each other.

Young Warriors assistant coach, Backlyfield Chivenga, said their preparations have gone according to plan.

“I think our training sessions have gone so well. We have done so much work with the boys, you can see that there is a lot of tactical feeding they are getting. At first, we were trying to put a lot of stuff into their heads, now they have been loosening up. It’s good for their confidence and they are now in a place where nobody knows them. I think they can now express themselves. I think we are now on track of what we want to achieve,” said Chivenga.

Before they left for Malawi, the Young Warriors technical team, which is led by Simon Marange, was forced to drop Elton Chikona and Leon Daka, owing to wanting disciplinary deportment.

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

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

The country’s football mother body, 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.

On Friday, Zimbabwe will take on Kenya at the same venue.

Meanwhile, Zifa was yesterday expecting the bulk of the senior national team players to be in Malawi by end of day.

The Warriors were also invited for a four-nation tournament in Lilongwe where they are set to face Malawi, Kenya and Zambia.

Some of the called-up players arrived in Malawi on Monday and according to Zifa spokesperson, Kudzaishe Mupoperi, these included Emmanuel Jalai, Kevin Moyo, Junior Makunike, Martin Mapisa, Peter Muduhwa, Donovan Bernard and Walter Musona.

“These locally based players were accompanied by head coach Norman Mapeza and his technical team, which includes assistant coach Takesure Chiragwi and Warriors manager Clement Matawu. Additionally, the squad has been reinforced by the presence of the following foreign-based players: Teenage Hadebe (Tumosan Konyaspor, Turkey), Joey Phuthi (Sheffield Wednesday, UK), Gerald Takwara (Ohod FC, Saudi Arabia) Daniel Msendami (Jwaneng Galaxy, Botswana).”

The remaining members of the Warriors squad were anticipated to arrive in Lilongwe yesterday at 3pm.

The Zifa Normalisation Committee appointed Mapeza as interim Warriors coach. The former national team captain replaced Portuguese mentor Baltemar Brito, whose contract was not renewed when it ended at the end of last year.

Mapeza has had several stints as head coach of the men’s senior national team.

He has a boundless amount of knowledge on the international football arena, having played for the Dream Team.

He also did well for Turkish side Galatasaray, before doing well as coach with FC Platinum and the now-defunct Monomotapa.

He took the two sides to the CAF Champions League.

Chiragwi now boasts of Castle Lager Premier Soccer League championship title and a Castle Challenge Cup that Madamburo won two weeks before the start of the 2024 season — @FungaiMuderere