ZAMBIAN coach Avram Grant has heaped praise on the Warriors team and expects a tough match when the two teams meet in the four nations tournament at the Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe, Malawi on Saturday.
Zimbabwe will field a strong squad at the tournament which also involves Kenya and the host nation Malawi, after all the invited England-based players — except for Wolverhampton’s Tawanda Chirewa — heeded the call of duty.
Zambia has also named a full strength squad for the games as the nations try to make full use of the Fifa international window. The winner of the Zambezi derby will clash with the winner of the Malawi versus Kenya game in the final on Tuesday next week.
Grant believes the game against Zimbabwe will present his side a good test as they prepare for the resumption of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in June.
“It will be a very good test because, first, Zimbabwe is a very good team,” the former Chelsea coach told the media in Lilongwe yesterday.
“I saw their squad, they have so many players who play in England and Turkey which I’m sure it will also happen to us one day. We have young players, the young generation who are coming up in the national team.”
Unlike Zimbabwe, Zambia participated in the last Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast in January, but crashed out at the initial stage.
Grant promised to give new players a chance to stake a claim in the Chipolopolo squad for future assignments.
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“It’s not a secret that there will be a chance for other players to show themselves because our target is not this tournament. Of course we want to win, I want to win every match, even a friendly match, but the target is the qualification to the World Cup,” Grant said.
Warriors interim coach Norman Mapeza who was appointed to take charge of the team at this tournament, believes the games are an opportunity to assess new players who have been called to the senior squad for the first time.
“We are happy to be here in Malawi,” Mapeza said.
“It’s a massive opportunity to assess everybody. We have guys coming from England and the local guys, but it's definitely to do much with guys who haven’t been here before. It's a massive opportunity for those guys. We are grateful for what Zifa has done for us,” the FC Platinum coach added.
At least nine players will be looking to make their senior national team debut at this tournament after receiving their first ever Warriors call-ups.
They include the England based group of goalkeeper Marley Tavaziva of Brentford B team, Huddersfield Town, defender Shane Maroodza, Joey Phuthi of Sheffield Wednesday, Tivonge Rushesha of Reading, Leicester City’s Tawanda Maswanhise and Botswana-based Daniel Msendami who plays for Jwaneng Galaxy.
Dynamos captain Emmanuel Jalai and his former teammate Junior Makunike are also looking to make their Warriors debut in Malawi, while defender Brandon Galloway and striker Macauley Bonne make a return to the national team fold.
Chirewa excused himself for this trip to concentrate on his Wolves career, but has committed to honour future Warriors invitations.
Mapeza retained the bulk of the squad that did duty in the opening two World Cup qualifiers against Rwanda and Nigeria in November last year.
Zimbabwe resume their World Cup qualification campaign with a home game against Lesotho in the first weekend of June before traveling to South Africa the following week.
The Warriors currently occupies fifth position in a six team Group C with two points from two matches.
Rwanda leads the group with four points, followed by South Africa on three, while Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Lesotho are tied on two each points each.
Benin anchor the log standings with one point.
The winner of the group will automatically qualify to the 2026 Fifa World Cup.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Under-20 fell yesterday in their opening match at the same tournament against their Malawi counterparts.
Denzel Mapuwa’s brace was not enough for the Young Warriors who lost 3-2 to the hosts.
The junior teams' tournament has been reduced into a three team round robin fiesta following the withdrawal of Zambia.
