The Zimbabwe national team manager Rahman Gumbo has said that he will be remaining loyal to the bunch of players who have been extremely good for the national team in the last few matches. Zimbabwe recently managed to defeat Angola in the first leg encounter 3-1. This has given Zimbabwe a great chance of qualifying for the 2013 African cup of nations when they take on Angola in the return leg in a few days time. Due to the impressive performance of his players in this match, Rahman Gumbo has said that he will not be making any major changes to the first-team.
The Zimbabwe national team manager currently has 30 players in his squad, but will be trimming down the squad to just 18 players. He has said that he will not be leaving out the players who have performed exceptionally well for him in the match against Angola. A number of high profile players have been subject to investigations regarding match fixing, but they now have been cleared. This means that Rahman Gumbo will have even more options when it comes to selecting the squad for the Angola match. Each player will receive up to $ 30,000 in bonuses if they qualify for the 2013 African cup of nations.
“I’m not going to make too many changes because the guys did very well in the first leg and I believe they will be up to the job on Sunday. We are going there to fight and I’m convinced the players we’ll select are prepared for the fight of their lives on the pitch. We have the advantage, but this is a game of football and anything can happen. We are not going there to watch them play; we will employ a sensible strategy striking a balance between defence and attack as the match evolves,” said Gumbo.