HARARE — Zimbabwe coach Mario Marinica on Thursday named his 28-man squad for the Africa Cup of Nations overshadowed by a row over Marshall Munetsi’s exclusion due to injury. Munetsi, who plays for Wolverhampton Wanderers in the English Premier League, has declared himself fit and claimed a conspiracy to exclude him.Also missing from the squad is Jordan Zemura, the Udinese fullback who said he is “heartbroken” not to be travelling to Morocco due to a thigh injury. Zimbabwe open their campaign against Egypt in Agadir on December 22 and then face Angola and South Africa in Group B.
“I played the first two games of the qualifiers versus Kenya and Cameroon whilst my wife was in hospital after having a miscarriage and she trusted me enough to stay there and make my country proud,” Munetsi wrote to Marinica in an email shared with the media. “We did that and qualified for AFCON and taking that away from me and her is something that I can’t even put into words.” At the centre of the row is a statement by Wolves coach Rob Edwards who declared that Munetsi would be out for at least four weeks after he missed a game against Manchester United on Monday. The Zimbabwe camp appears to have accepted the Wolves statement and gone on to exclude the 29-year-old, who fears this may be his last chance to play at the finals.
“My club didn’t say I can’t play in the group stages, they just said the first game would be a risk and I have done everything you asked in reference to the request you made,” Munetsi went on. “I just don’t think this is about football anymore because if I was really needed and important to the team then your message would be different. Munetsi insisted that “with regards to my injury, it’s nothing big and I don’t have pain at all, it’s just the club trying to be cautious.” ZIFA, he said, has a doctor that can still assess him “and that’s allowed by FIFA in such cases.” “I think the communication is fair from the club outlining their thoughts in medical terms and also saying that they cannot guarantee that I will be fit in medical terms but they are willing to support me clinically as safe as possible,” he added.
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Marinica, in reply, said he was open to calling up Munetsi should Zimbabwe progress from the group stages. “We had correspondence from your club. Unfortunately, you were declared unfit to be playing in the group stage matches,” the coach wrote to him.
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