WARRIORS coach Callisto Pasuwa will on Tuesday give a strong hint of the players that are on his mind as the Africa Cup of Nations approaches when he announces his squad for the upcoming two international friendly matches against Zambia and Tanzania.

ZIFA have secured a friendly match against Chipolopolo this Saturday at home before the national team engages Tanzania in another home tie on November 13.

Zambia anchors the bottom of their World Cup qualifiers group which also have Nigeria, Cameroon and Algeria.

They travel to Cameroon for their next qualifier on November 12.

With Premier Soccer League already on break paving way for the Chibuku Super Cup final between FC Platinum and Ngezi Platinum Stars at Baobab on Saturday the international match will not affect the PSL program.

FIFA has reserved from November 7 to 15 on its calendar for official or friendly matches.

And with Zimbabwe not involved in the World Cup qualifiers which get underway next weekend, ZIFA have moved in to fully utilize the FIFA dates by hosting two high profile matches.

The two matches will see the Warriors return to action for the first time since they played Guinea in the last Africa Cup of Nations qualifying round in Conakry in September.

In October the association put to waste another FIFA friendly match date but ZIFA have ensured Pasuwa gets down to serious business with the two matches marking the start of preparations for the AFCON tournament.

ZIFA President Phillip Chiyangwa revealed on Monday that the foreign based players, who form the bulk of Pasuwa’s squad, will be coming for the two games.

The coach will use the two matches to assess all the players he may be considering for the Gabon sojourn.

Pasuwa’s charges, pooled in Group B with African heavyweights Algeria, Senegal as well as Tunisia would want all the best material at his disposal.

Highly rated players like Burnley right back Tendai Darikwa have expressed willingness to be part of the AFCON team and Pasuwa might use the two matches to have a closer look at some of the players who missed out on the qualifiers.

Last week Warriors team manager Sharif Mussa said Darikwa, despite turning down earlier national team call ups due to different excuses, has reached out and indicated he is ready to play for his country at the tournament.

The Zimbabwe technical team has also been tracking the 24-year old defender and another England based fullback Brendan Galloway, who seem to have made his mind to play for England after receiving call ups to the Three Lions Under-21 team.

Zimbabwe are the only team from Southern Africa to qualify for the 2017 tournament in Gabon.

Pasuwa has underlined the need for proper preparations ahead of the tournament.

It is good news to the mentor that some of his forwards appear more sharpened with Knowledge Musona, Nyasha Mushekwi and Mathew Rusike getting goals for their respective clubs.

On Sunday, Rusike was on target for Helsingborg when they beat Falkenberg 4-1 while Musona has also been a regular scorer for K.V. Oostende in Belgium and Nyasha Mushekwi recently finished as the second best goal scorer in the Chinese League One after scoring 19 goals in his debut season.