Warriors Coach Sunday Chidzambwa says he is likely to field his best possible side for the COSAFA Castle Cup this year because it was the only tournament where he could experiment with the strategies he wants to employ in the CAF Nations Cup qualifiers that resume in September.

Chidzambwa who has won three of the five COSAFA Cups for Zimbabwe and has never lost a match in the tournament says he will consider some of his first-team regulars, including the pair of Knowledge Musona and Khama Billiat, for the regional tourney in South Africa.  The coach fielded a number of South Africa-based players in his team last year which won the tournament after defeating Zambia 3-1 in the final.

Ovidy Karuru, the Amazulu midfielder, captained the side and was one of the stand-out players of the tournament as he scored a number of goals for the Warriors.

The former ZPC Kariba Coach is taking the COSAFA Castle Cup seriously as his Warriors are unlikely to have any international friendlies this year, with the World Cup set for June and July, and he said it was important he gets a look at his star players in competitive matches.

“Look, we might not get another chance to look at our boys and where we want them to play during the AFCON games and that is why I believe we need all our best players at COSAFA,’’ said Chidzambwa.

“We need to see them playing in a competitive environment, using the formula that we want, to see if it works or if it needs to be improved, to see if we need some other players playing in certain roles.

“This is a good opportunity for us to test what we want to use during the AFCON matches and that is why we need all our best players and the good thing is that most of them will be available as their foreign leagues would have ended.’’