Zimbabwe’s star player in the qualifiers for the Rio Olympics and the African nations, Rudo Neshamba is likely to miss the African Women’s Cup of Nations in Cameroon at the end of the year due to injury.

Mighty Warriors coach Shadreck Mlauzi hinted after the friendly against Egypt on Tuesday that the influential striker might not make it to Cameroon in November as she is grounded by an injury.

Mlauzi said he was hoping that all the injured players including Neshamba undergo operations soon and recover in time for the tournament.

“We have a number of players who appear to have chronic injuries. We had given them time to recover but they could not do so. We saw at the Olympics that they were struggling but we had to risk them to play because we needed experience,”

“We will see how it goes; if they go for operation and recover on time, there will always be room for them but if they don’t we will have to give others a chance. We have broadened our selection base so that we have a larger pool to choose from.”

Scorers in the 2-1 friendly match triumph over Egypt, Maude Mafuruse and Tonderayi Masango were some of the debutants called by Mlauzi as he seeks to broaden his selection base ahead of the tournament which starts on November 19 up to December 3.

Eunice Chibanda, Captain Felistas Muzongondi and Lynnette Mutokutu are some of the players nursing injuries.

Zimbabwe will clash with Egypt again in the group stages where they are drawn alongside hosts Cameroon and South Africa.

Holders Nigeria are in group B alongside Mali, Kenya and Ghana.