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Nakamba injured as Musona shines

by Staff reporter
13 Dec 2021 at 07:01hrs | Views
IN-FORM Warriors and Aston Villa midfielder Marvelous Nakamba is likely going to be sidelined for a week or two after he limped out of Saturday's English Premiership football match against Liverpool at Anfield.

The Zimbabwean was substituted in the 57th minute, and was replaced by Morgan Sanson.

He sustained a groin injury.

Warriors manager, Wellington Mpandare, said Nakamba is due to go for a scan today to determine the extent of the damage.

The injury will be a setback to Nakamba.

The Zimbabwean is enjoying a newly-found form under manager Steven Gerrard. He has been the mainstay of the Aston Villa midfield in their last games.

Gerrard and his troops lost to Liverpool 1-0 at Anfield on Saturday. The Zimbabwean has repaid the faith shown by the Liverpool legend by putting up some top-notch performances.

Villa have managed to win three of their last five matches under Gerrard with Nakamba getting plaudits in the games.

Gerrard now feels Nakamba is indispensable and would want to have him through the Christmas and New Year fixtures. ZIFA have since agreed to the arrangement.

The Zimbabwean technical team will be hoping that the midfielder quickly recovers from the injury so that by the time he travels back home after Christmas to join the rest of his team in camp, he would have fully recovered.

The Zimbabwe national football team captain Knowledge Musona also had a brilliant and probably one of his best games since moving to the Saudi Arabian league at the weekend.

The Smiling Assassin was the star of the show as he helped his team, Al-Taie, to come from behind with two assists in the 2-1 victory against Al Nassr on Friday evening.

Musona together with his Chilean coach José Luis Sierra, were hailed by the club's fans on social media page. Some supporters believe the new coach knows how to effectively deploy the Zimbabwean skipper in an attacking role.

An Al-Jazeera journalist tweeted that as evaluated by Sofascore, "Zimbabwe Musona is a star to face. With the rest of his teammates, he presented one of the most beautiful matches this season, and Al-Taie's loyal fans shared the star of the match," he tweeted.

Warriors coach Norman Mapeza and his backroom staff are expected to get down to business in the coming weeks ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations finals.

The FC Platinum gaffer has retained his assistant coaches Taurai Mangwiro and Mandla Mpofu as well as goalkeepers' coach Energy Murambadoro.

Although ZIFA are still finalising the finer details of Mapeza's contract as well as his clearance from the Zvishavane club, it is understood that everything is on course ahead of the training camp that is expected to begin two days before Christmas day.

In the absence of the ZIFA board, the association's secretariat has been working tirelessly to ensure smooth operations ahead of the continental showpiece set to be staged in Cameroon in January.

Zimbabwe are in Group B and begin their campaign against Senegal on January 10. They meet neighbours Malawi four days later. They complete their group fixtures on January 18 with a match against Guinea.

Source - The Herald