'Long-serving' Karuru Deserved Warriors Call-up - Chitembwe

Warriors assistant coach Lloyd Chitembwe said the decision to include Ovidy Karuru in the 24-man provisional Warriors squad for the back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Algeria was a no-brainer as the forward has proved over time that he is good enough for the team.

The selection of Karuru, who is currently without a club, and the exclusion of Orlando Pirates’ Terrence Dzukamanja raised a few eyebrows but Chitembwe told a press conference in Harare on Sunday that Karuru was a key player in the Warriors’ last two competitive fixtures. Said Chitembwe:

The whole idea on Ovidy is that we are trying to come up with a team that is good enough to give us what we can expect, a team that is good enough to represent the country.

I think all these years, Ovidy has played an important part within the set-up and one thing which is undisputed is that he is a quality player.

He proved against Botswana when we played them at the National Sports Stadium. He equally proved this when we played away to Zambia.

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The point here is that he is unattached, he is neither here nor there, the South African league is still in its infancy and they have just played two games.

I am sure he deserves a chance, let’s give the coach a chance to assess the player’s fitness. I am sure he has the intelligence to play and give us what we want.

Karuru is currently unattached after he parted ways with South Africa’s DStv premiership side Stellenbosch.

Meanwhile, Dzukamanja started Pirates’ the 3-0 MTN semi-final victory over Kaizer Chiefs on Saturday, setting up the first goal with a sublime cross into the box.

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