WARRIORS coach Zdravko Logarusic has extended the invitation to highly-rated Germany-based midfield sensation Jonah Fabisch to be part of his squad at the upcoming COSAFA Cup.

Fabisch is one of the three overseas-based players that were drafted in the 25-man squad announced by the ZIFA yesterday. The other overseas players in the squad are goalkeeper Martin Mapisa, who plays for Zamora CF in Spain and United States-based midfielder, Nyasha Dube.

The 19-year-old Fabisch is the son of legendary former Zimbabwe national team coach, Reinhard Fabisch, and qualifies to play for Zimbabwe through his mother, Chawada Kachidza-Fabisch.

He is part of a generation of players raised in Europe, with Zimbabwean roots, and has since declared that he wants to play for Zimbabwe.

Fabisch has been targeted by successive Zimbabwe national team coaches in the last two years but is yet to make his bow with the Warriors or the Young Warriors.

The Hamburger SV II defensive midfielder failed to honour previous call-ups mainly because of club commitments. He has been progressing steadily at the German 2 Bundesliga club, Hamburger SV, and is closer to making the first team.

Another interesting addition in Loga's team is US-based Zimbabwean midfielder Dube. The 24-year-old Hwange born attacking midfielder plays for American fourth tier side, Little Rock Rangers.

He is the son of former Hwange players/coach and ex-Warriors assistant coach, Nation Dube.

Loga has indicated that he has reserved the COSAFA tournament to some of the fringe players that he would want to have a look at ahead of the important World Cup Qualifiers and the AFCON finals set for Cameroon next year.

The Warriors are also set to welcome back goalkeeper Mapisa for the COSAFA Cup. The 23-year old made his national team debut when Zimbabwe concluded their 2021 AFCON qualifiers in the 2-0 defeat to Zambia three months ago.

Mapisa will be competing for the starting place with Ngezi Platinum Stars' Nelson Chadya and veteran Washington Arubi, who is making his return to the fold after six years.

Arubi, who plays for Marumo Gallants in South Africa's DStv Premiership, was rewarded with the call-up after experiencing a renaissance with Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila in the just-ended DStv Premiership season.

The 35-year-old played an instrumental role to lead TTM to their first silverware by winning the Nedbank Cup, which saw them qualify for next season's CAF Confederation Cup.

He kept four clean sheets out of the five matches they played.

Arubi went on to win the Nedbank Cup Player of the Tournament and pocketed R150 000.

He is part of the South Africa-based quintet in the Warriors squad that also includes Knox Mutizwa, MacClive Phiri, Ovidy Karuru and Evans Rusike.

Karuru, who is set to leave relegated Black Leopards, is one of the regular players in the national team and could be needed for his experience.

Golden Arrows Mutizwa and club-less Rusike are the other foreign-based players that had limited opportunities during the recent Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

Tanzania-based forward, Perfect Chikwende, who scored the solitary goal that sealed Zimbabwe's 2021 AFCON qualification in the away match to Botswana, has also been selected for the COSAFA Cup.

Loga should be eager to add to his options upfront ahead of the start of the 2022 World Cup qualifying process in September.

The Croatian coach has also extended his options to Zambia by settling for defenders Jimmy Dzingayi and Kelvin Moyo.

But the majority of the players in the squad are local-based players and were part of the CHAN tournament in Cameroon.

The light also fell on some of the players that performed well during the season-opening Chibuku Super Cup first round.

However, midfielder Denver Mukamba, who was among the outstanding players during the tournament, is a notable omission.

The Warriors are set to begin their preparations in Harare today and will leave for South Africa next Monday with a squad of 20 players.

Loga has spelt out his vision at COSAFA in previous interviews.

"We are going to use players which we didn't see much during the AFCON qualification," said Loga.

"We will give chances to some players which are showing potential to become future stars and those who didn't get many minutes during qualification for AFCON. It's their chance to prove themselves.

"We are not going with the strongest squad; we didn't call 14 or 15 players top players who are regulars for the national team.

"We are not talking about whether we win or not. We are using this tournament to try to make our squad stronger for World Cup qualification and the AFCON tournament."

The COSAFA Cup will be played in Port Elizabeth in South Africa from July 7 to 18 at the Nelson Mandela Bay in Port Elizabeth.

The Warriors will open their campaign in Group C against Mozambique three days later in Group Con July 8.

They will face Namibia three days later in their second match before wrapping it up with a game against guest nation, Senegal, on July 14. The top team progresses to the semi-finals.

The tournament will be played in a bio-secure environment in line with the Covid-19 regulations. All matches will be live on SuperSport and streamed on COSAFA.TV.

Warriors COSAFA Cup Squad:

GOALKEEPERS: Washington Arubi (Marumo Gallants), Nelson Chadya (Ngezi Platinum Stars), Martin Mapisa (Zamora CF)

DEFENDERS: MacClive Phiri (Sekhukhune United), Kelvin Moyo (Nkana), Carlos Mavhurume (CAPS United), Andrew Mbeba (Highlanders), Lennox Muchero (Yadah Stars), Godknows Murwira (Dynamos), Qadr Amini (Ngezi Platinum Stars), Malvin Mkolo (Bulawayo Chiefs), Jimmy Dzingai (Nkana)

MIDFIELDERS: Blessing Sarupinda (CAPS United), Perfect Chikwende (Simba SC), Tatenda Tavengwa (Harare City), Shadreck Nyahwa (Dynamos), Brian Banda (FC Platinum), King Nadolo (Dynamos), Nyasha Dube (Little Rock Rangers), Jonah Fabisch (Hamburger SV), Ovidy Karuru (Black Leopards), Richard Hachiro (CAPS United)

STRIKERS: Farau Matare (Bulawayo Chiefs), Knox Mutizwa (Lamontville Golden Arrows), Evans Rusike

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