Brito wants character from Warriors
WARRIORS coach Baltemar Brito has been in Zimbabwe long enough to appreciate key attributes of local players, and one of them is their“remarkable fighting spirit”. But the Brazilian has little knowledge of the foreign legion, most of whom he will meet for the first time when Zimbabwe play Rwanda in a 2026 World Cup qualifier in Huye on Wednesday.
The Warriors will then play African powerhouse Nigeria in the same Rwandan district on Sunday.
Brito has included 15 European-based players in a 28-man squad that also includes eight locals, two players from the South African top-flight and one from the United States.
The previously forgotten pair of Gerald Takwara and Prince Dube is also travelling from Saudi Arabia and Tanzania, respectively.
The foreign contingent, which also includes key players such as Marvelous Nakamba of English Premier League side Luton Town and Marshall Munetsi (Stade Reims), will fly directly to Rwanda after featuring for their clubs. Nakamba’s Luton played Manchester United yesterday, while Munetsi has been recovering from a broken nose. A source at ZIFA, however, confirmed that the versatile player, who is equally at home in defence, will still travel to Rwanda.
Houston Dynamo centre-back Teenage Hadebe, Admiral Muskwe (Exeter City), Munashe Garan’anga (Sheriff Tiraspol), Leon Chiwome (Wolverhampton Wanderers) and Cardiff City’s Andy Rinomhota are also expected in Rwanda tomorrow.
Brito, who is also the Highlanders coach, is confident the European-based players will add value to the squad as Zimbabwe prepare for their first competitive match since January 18, 2022.
On that day, the Warriors, then under Norman Mapeza, beat Guinea 2-1 in a group fixture of the deferred 2021 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Cameroon.
A month after their AFCON sojourn, Zimbabwe were then suspended from international football.
FIFA only readmitted the country in July after installing a Normalisation Committee to run ZIFA.
“We need to start from somewhere, and we are starting against Rwanda, with only two training sessions.“We hope to do well,”Brito told The Sunday Mail Sport. “Rwanda are playing at home on an artificial turf they are used to, so we know it’s going to be a difficult task.
“But I have noticed that Zimbabwean players are fighters and we want that spirit in the national team.”The last time Zimbabwe played Rwanda in a World Cup qualifier was on July 3, 2004, when Rahman Gumbo’s Warriors emerged 2-0 winners in Kigali. The fixture was a combined 2006 World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier.
There are some similarities, though, between these two nations, football-wise.
Both made their AFCON debut in 2004, but Zimbabwe went on to qualify four more times in 2006, 2017, 2019 and 2021, while Rwanda failed to make it to subsequent tournaments after their maiden appearance. Neither the Amavubi (Wasps) nor the Warriors have qualified for the World Cup finals.
They face a tough task in a Group C that has seasoned campaigners Nigeria and South Africa, as well as two teams that have a knack of upsetting the applecart — Benin and Lesotho.
Just like Zimbabwe, Rwanda also have a new coach, Torsten Spittler Frank, who was appointed on November 3. Both Brito and Frank have never coached an African national team before.
While Brito’s credentials have been questioned by some, Frank’s capacity is also being doubted in some media outlets in the Central African country.
However, Brito believes he can do “something good” for the nation. “The journey will not be easy . . . imagine we will play two games inside four days.
“The other match is against a powerhouse, Nigeria. “There will be issues to do with player recovery, but it is what it is, we can’t be crybabies, we have to find solutions,” said Brito. “We hope to have the support of Zimbabweans in this process.” The gaffer will conduct two training sessions before he names his team for the Rwanda assignment. “It’s not an easy task because football is a sport of habit, football is a sport of process; it’s a sport that needs the players to have time to understand each other, and us, coaches, to understand the players.
“In some instances, the players come with their own mindset. Their club coaches request them to do things that are different from what we require.
“The players will come from different clubs with different game plans and we are aware of that as well.” Given the arsenal that Brito has at his disposal, the Warriors appear to be the stronger side on paper. Rwanda only have two foreign-based players, who, however, play in Europe’s lower leagues.
Midfielder Hakim Sahabo plays for Standard Liege II in the Belgian second-tier league, while Lague Byiringiro turns out for Sweden’s third-tier side Sandvikens IF. But to their credit, they have over the years found a way of making a formidable unit from their squad of mostly local-based players, while a few will be drawn from the Kenyan and Moroccan leagues.