Warriors Coach Defends Karuru Call-up

Warriors coach Zdravko Logarusic has defended the inclusion of South African-based striker Ovidy Karuru in his 24-man provisional Warriors squad for the back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Algeria, even though he currently has no club.

The Croatian argued that Karuru showed commitment to the Warriors cause and also his assistants spoke glowingly of him. Addressing a press conference in Harare on Sunday, Logarusic:

When we made the squad, we did not know where Ovidy was and we made the squad not knowing whether they were changing clubs or not.

I spoke to him and he showed commitment, saying that he was working. He also told me that he was not injured.

When I talked to my assistants, they told me he was one of the best players when the Warriors played against Botswana and Zambia.

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That means he didn’t disappoint when he played for the country last time.

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

Meanwhile, respected sports journalist Yvonne Mangunda criticised the Warriors’ technical team for overlooking Orlando Pirates striker Terrence Dzvukamanja in favour of unattached players. She wrote on her Facebook on Saturday about Dzvukamanja:

Paakasignwer hanzi here achagara bonde, hee zvadii. Chinonetsa muZimbabwe tongofunga vanogona bhora vanowanikwa muHarare nekuBulawayo. Kungotambira mateam ekunze, hapana anokuona or kuita shungu yekukuziva.

Terrence will play his way into national team because havadi kumushevedza, kunodiwa vamwe vasina kana team yekutambira. He will perform until they can’t ignore him anymore.

When he was signed, they said he will never make it into the first eleven. The problem we have in Zimbabwe is that we think good players are only found in Harare and Bulawayo. If you play for a club outside the two cities, you are overlooked as insignificant.

Terrence will play his way into the national team because they don’t want to call him. They call those who are not attached to any team. He will perform until they can’t ignore him anymore.

More: NewsDay