BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA WARRIORS coach Zdravko Logarušic is beaming with confidence despite having at his disposal a severely depleted squad as his charges make the trip to Botswana for the 2021 African Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifying showdown tomorrow. They will host neighbours Zambia in Harare four days later in the final qualifying round. The Croat, who is seeking to win his first competitive match since his appointment to the hot seat, yesterday told journalists in Harare that he was confident of securing a good result against the Zebras despite the absence of several regulars. The build-up to the clash against Botswana has been chaotic for the Warriors, whose star players based in Europe have been barred from joining the national team due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. With the world football governing body, Fifa granting clubs the freedom to choose to release players for international engagements on account of the pandemic, several European clubs have seized the opportunity to bar their players from travelling outside the European Union during the international break as they will need to be quarantined for at least 10 days on return. Zimbabwe will be without all their United Kingdom-based players who include Marvellous Nakamba, Tendai Darikwa, David Moyo and Admiral Muskwe, while injuries to key players such as Khama Billiat, Divine Lunga, Knox Mutizwa and Prince Dube have also not helped the situation. By yesterday, it was not yet clear whether the Zimbabwean government and Mozambique had reached a deal to bring their France-based players on a private jet to meet conditions set by the French government. “I am not scared about the result because I am 100% sure the players who came will represent their mother Zimbabwe properly in the next two games against Botswana and Zambia,” Logarušic said. He said although he didn’t have almost the entire team that played champions Algeria in the last match and managed to share the spoils, he remained optimistic. “In attack we had Tino Kadewere, David Moyo and Prince Dube. Knox Mutizwa also our number four striker and then our Khama Billiat we have about five choices that are not here with us. Check the full-backs, we have no players who played against Algeria and in midfield, we should have Nakamba and Marshall who are not there. It is not easy and I am talking of big names who can play in any country. And it’s a big blow for us, but this is the reason we are here with the help of a few experienced players and our captain (Knoweldge Musona) they will produce a good result. We are not crying. We have to believe in ourselves. I believe in myself. I saw the atmosphere. I have spoken to the boys, they are ready, they are committed, they are facing some problems, but problems we have to face them but I am very sure we will fix the problem,” Logarušic said. The Warriors coach added that he had watched Botswana and he believed they were likely to play a more open game than the previous match which ended in a 0-0 stalemate. “I am not sure they will repeat the same game they play