Temwanjira expected to play against Angola

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Temwanjira’s desire to play for the Warriors got worse in June when he paid the team a courtesy call at Pandhari Lodge, where they were camped in preparation for Afcon and World qualifiers. He also watched the Guinea match at the National Sports Stadium.

Temwanjira’s desire to play for the Warriors got worse in June when he paid the team a courtesy call at Pandhari Lodge, where they were camped in preparation for Afcon and World qualifiers. He also watched the Guinea match at the National Sports Stadium. “My visit evoked memories of my time with junior national teams when I saw Vusa (Nyoni) and ‘Father’ (Tinashe Nengomasha). Vusa was taunting me at how big I had grown and he was saying he reads about me in Belgian newspapers.

  “But above all, I envied seeing the squad happy in camp,” he said.

  “When I am in Romania, I speak to Dickson Choto over the phone almost everyday as we grew up together. (Takesure) Chinyama is a close friend of mine as well and I also talk to him regularly.”

  Recently, Warriors coach Rahman Gumbo threw a lifeline on Temwanjira’s seemingly fledging international career by recalling him, but this time a calf injury sustained at a pre-season camp in Austria in July, denied him the long-awaited return.

  He is now expected to recover in time for the Afcon qualifier second leg in Angola.

  Injury again prevented Temwanjira from turning out for the Warriors under Brazilian coach, Valinhos, in 2008 and during the 2010 World Cup and Afcon joint qualifiers against Namibia.

  Now at the age of 30, he knows he has little time left with the Warriors and that makes him eager to shine for the Warriors. “Naturally, I am happy to have been finally called up for the national team. Obviously, I have to serve my country with honour and do my best. I hope my experience in Europe will benefit Zimbabwe,” he said.

  Temwanjira’s break into Europe was when he signed for the then Yugoslavia’s FK Javor Ivanjica from CAPS United in 2003, before moving to FK Borac in the same country in 2006, where he spent  one season.

  He stays in Vaslui with his wife Sandra and their two children: Craig (8) and Kateleen (4).

  His young brother David is a striker at premiership side Blue Rangers.