BY MUNYARADZI MADZOKERE
FRANCE-BASED striker Tino Kadewere has suffered a muscle strain, which kept him out of Olympique Lyon’s Coup de France tie against Sochaux last night, a development sure to cause alarm in the Warriors camp ahead of crucial Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers later this month.
Kadewere is part of the 38-member provisional squad for the Group H Afcon qualifiers against Botswana and Zambia scheduled for March 25 and March 29 respectively.
The 25-year-old striker, who has been enjoying a brilliant debut season in the French top-flight league, is a crucial member of Croat Zdravko Logarusic’s team.
Lyon coach Rudi Garcia revealed Kadewere’s injury situation during a press conference on Friday.
“We’ve got Lucas Paqueta back. We’ll have to see about Kadewere, Memphis (Depay) and (Mattia) De Sciglio. We’ll see if they’ve come back at 100%. They have to recover from some knocks. Julian Pollersbeck will play in goal,” Garcia said.
Garcia selected 20 players for the round of 16 of the Coupe de France at home to Sochaux with Kadewere conspicuous by his absence.
Kadewere featured in the last 32 minutes of the club’s midweek marginal 1–0 victory away at Rennes where he may have picked up the knock.
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The former Harare City man was given post-match conference duties following the match on Wednesday.
“It was a tough match, but the most important thing was to take three points. We will continue working like this. We kept a cool head, and we know we have to win every game and it’s great to have been able to do that against this team.
“We stayed organised, we worked well in the second half to get chances. There are always difficult moments in football; the most important thing is to have the right reaction to them and to get out of those moments. At the end of the day we won and are top of the table, so we are happy,” Kadewere told journalists
Ironically, Kadewere has not played any cup matches so far this season, but has featured 27 times for Lyon in the league and scored nine goals with three assists.
However, the Zimbabwean has endured a dip in form having failed to get on the score sheet since his brace against St Etienne in the derby on January 24.
The striker is currently going through his longest barren spell without a goal contribution for the club as he has failed to score or provide an assist in the last seven league matches.
One would have to go to the start of the season to find a lengthy dry spell for the striker, who needed six matches to open his account for the season and the club in Ligue 1.
Zimbabwe face Botswana away first before they square off against Zambia at home four days later and Logarusic will be hoping to have his best striker fit for both assignments.
Logarusic and his technical team have called up eight strikers in the bloated squad for the Afcon qualifiers with Hamilton Academical’s David Moyo, the hero of the last match against Algeria Prince Dube and Admiral Muskwe part of the team.
South Africa-based striker Terrence Dzvukamanja is believed to be battling for fitness while Knox Mutizwa and Evans Rusike make a return to the team.
Bulawayo Chiefs forward Farau Matare, who was part of the Chan squad, has also been included in the team.
Warriors’ preparations for the final stretch of the Afcon qualifiers are also being threatened by injuries to Kudakwashe Mahachi, who limped off during SuperSport United’s draw against TS Galaxy on Friday, and Kaizer Chiefs star Khama Billiat.
Captain Knowledge Musona has just made a return to full fitness after another lengthy spell on the sidelines due to injury.
Logarusic will miss Marvelous Nakamba who could not be released by his club Aston Villa and the majority of Europe- based players remain a doubt for the upcoming assignments.
Zimbabwe need four points in the final two matches to ensure qualification to a third consecutive Afcon finals and fifth overall.
