Sports / Soccer
Ajax withdraw Billiat from Young Warriors team to play South Africa
20 Jun 2011 at 08:57hrs | Views
Ajax Cape Town have chosen to withdraw the services of Khama Billiat from the Zimbabwe Under-23 squad 'because he needs rest'.
The Young Warriors play their South African counterparts on Saturday afternoon at Sinaba Stadium in Daveyton this weekend in the first leg of the final round of qualifiers for the 2011 Maputo All Africa Games.
Billiat, who also doubles up as a senior national team player, has been pulled out of the squad after Ajax were advised that he needed to rest ahead of the start of pre-season at the end of the month.
Ajax CEO George Comitis says they have withdrawn Billiat but have given the Friday Phiri coached team the go ahead to use their other player Tafadzwa Rusike for this match that falls outside the Fifa calendar.
"Firstly, we didn't get notification from Zimbabwe that they needed to use both Khama (Billiat) and Paul (Rusike) for the Under-23 matches. No official word was ever communicated to us from their side and we were only informed by the players' agent that the boys were needed in the Under-23 squad.
"I then advised them that only Paul can go and play but with Khama it's a no. After all the football that he played this past season the kid needs to rest. With Paul, he didn't play as much as Khama, so he can go ahead and play because he needs that game time. Khama is a senior national team player after all," says Comitis.
Billiat, who had been called up to the squad, is still back at home in Harare enjoying his break while Rusike has proceeded to join the Young Warriors in camp and will be travelling with the team to Johannesburg later this week.
The 20 year-old had an encouraging debut season with Ajax and went on to put up an impressive display in the Zimbabwean senior squad in their 2-1 win over Mali in Harare at the beginning of the month.
Last week Ajax also withdraw Thulani Serero and Thulani Hlatshwayo from the South African Under-23, citing injuries to both but agreed to release Sameehg Doutie and George Maluleka.
However, for Zimbabwe, who have also lost out on having Knowledge Musona after Kaizer Chiefs also pulled him out of the squad, there is still enough talent in their team which has the exciting Joel Ngodzo in midfield.
Billiat, who also doubles up as a senior national team player, has been pulled out of the squad after Ajax were advised that he needed to rest ahead of the start of pre-season at the end of the month.
Ajax CEO George Comitis says they have withdrawn Billiat but have given the Friday Phiri coached team the go ahead to use their other player Tafadzwa Rusike for this match that falls outside the Fifa calendar.
"Firstly, we didn't get notification from Zimbabwe that they needed to use both Khama (Billiat) and Paul (Rusike) for the Under-23 matches. No official word was ever communicated to us from their side and we were only informed by the players' agent that the boys were needed in the Under-23 squad.
"I then advised them that only Paul can go and play but with Khama it's a no. After all the football that he played this past season the kid needs to rest. With Paul, he didn't play as much as Khama, so he can go ahead and play because he needs that game time. Khama is a senior national team player after all," says Comitis.
Billiat, who had been called up to the squad, is still back at home in Harare enjoying his break while Rusike has proceeded to join the Young Warriors in camp and will be travelling with the team to Johannesburg later this week.
The 20 year-old had an encouraging debut season with Ajax and went on to put up an impressive display in the Zimbabwean senior squad in their 2-1 win over Mali in Harare at the beginning of the month.
Last week Ajax also withdraw Thulani Serero and Thulani Hlatshwayo from the South African Under-23, citing injuries to both but agreed to release Sameehg Doutie and George Maluleka.
However, for Zimbabwe, who have also lost out on having Knowledge Musona after Kaizer Chiefs also pulled him out of the squad, there is still enough talent in their team which has the exciting Joel Ngodzo in midfield.
Source - www.kickoff.com
