HARARE - Highlanders midfield star Peter “Rio” Moyo will only join the Warriors’ preparations for the Chan finals next week after returning from a trial stint in South Africa.
Moyo – who rediscovered his form towards the end of the 2013 season, was included in coach Ian Gorowa’s provisional squad for the tournament – to be held in South Africa in January.
The dreadlocked midfielder will be one of Gorowa’s trump cards at the showcase, designed specifically for footballers plying their trade in domestic leagues across the continent.
Moyo left the country last week for trials with an undisclosed club in the South African Premiership.
“He (Moyo) is in South Africa and he has been constantly in touch with us,” Warriors coach Ian Gorowa told the Daily News yesterday.
“Our preparations started slowly but are going on well. We are currently training with 27 players and we expect Rio to join the team next week.”
Apart from Moyo, Triangle forward Misheck Mburayi was also conspicuous by his absence at training yesterday. Gorowa did not have kind words for the former Motor Action man.
“Mburaya sneaked out of the country without telling us anything. He is one of the players that we would have wanted to assess. We will have to sit as the technical team and see what we can do,” Gorowa said.
“We thought he should have communicated with us. Rio told me after the friendly against Mozambique, and even in South Africa he is calling. But everything is in control, that’s why we picked a large pool of players.
“We don’t have enough time and today we had to train even under the rains.”
The Warriors yesterday braved the rainy weather conditions and held the afternoon training session on a wet afternoon in Harare.
Earlier in the week, the Warriors went through a fitness training session supervised by Zimbabwe rugby team fitness trainer Grant Mitchell at the Innovative High Performance Centre in the capital.
The Warriors will be making their third consecutive appearance at the Chan finals.
Zimbabwe has failed to go past the group stages in the previous two additions in 2009 and 2011, and will be hoping to make a cut at next month’s tournament.
The Warriors are in Group B alongside Burkina Faso, Morocco and Uganda and they will begin their campaign against the Atlas Lions on January 12.
Squad: George Chigova, Munyaradzi Diya, Maxwell Nyamupanedengu, Hardlife Zvirekwi, Oscar Machapa, Felix Chindungwe, Themba Ndlovu, Partson Jaure, Eric Chipeta, Augustine Mbara, Pascal Manhanga, Wonder Kapinda, Danny Phiri, Tawanda Muparati, Charles Sibanda, Frankson Bushure, Peter Moyo, Lot Chiunga, Silas Songani, Masimba Mambare, Donald Ngoma, Ali Sadiki, Kuda Mahachi, Simba Sithole, Simba Sithole, Nelson Maziwisa, Milton Ncube.