By Onward Gangata
AHEAD of the International friendly against Burkina Faso tonight, national team head coach, Michael Nees, has reiterated that his main focus is on assessing the new crop of players.
The warriors are in Morroco for two international friendlies that begin tonight against Burkina Faso at Stade El Bachir at 6pm.
The other match will be against Niger on June 10 in Morroco.
Nees selected a fairly young and different squad to the one that has been doing duty over the past year.
The German rested regulars such as captain Marvellous Nakamba, his deputy Marshall Munesti, Jordan Zemura and Andy Rinomhota.
Instead, Nees opted to run the rule over a couple of promising players, as he looks to build his squad for the AFCON tournament in December.
This has paved the way for new faces such as Sheffield Wednesday’s 20 year old midfielder, Sean Fusire.
Germany based Jonah Fabisch also makes a return to the warriors set up, so does goalkeeper, Elvis Chipezeze.
Also making the return is the duo of France based striker, Tino Kadewere and speedy winger Bill Antonio, who plies his trade in Belgium.
“Our group has a lot of new faces, the players who came back, automatically for us there will be new faces in the starting 11,” Nees said.
“It’s not about winning, first of all, it’s about the performance. We must gradually improve our performances and that’s the best preparation for a good result.”
Building for the future
The warriors gaffer noted that the thrust of the two friendlies is to build the base for a competitive squad at AFCON.
He added that Burkina Faso are a strong opposition and will provide the much needed preparation.
“We respect the opponents, they are ranked higher than us on the FIFA rankings but we want to win as well,” added the German tactician.
“But we want to integrate the new players into the team and see if they cope on that same level.”
