Mwaruwari free for final
ByReuters
Published 01/06/2005 at 18:00 GMT
Zimbabwe coach Charles Mhlauri has overruled his bosses and given permission for striker Benjani Mwaruwari to play for AJ Auxerre in Saturday's French Cup final. Mhlauri has excused the player from his country's World Cup qualifier match against Gabon in Harare at the weekend.
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
The Zimbabwe Football Association announced earlier this week they were to seek FIFA intervention to force Mwaruwari to play for the national team in Sunday's qualifier.
Under FIFA rules, Mwaruwari would have been forced to travel to Zimbabwe for the match and, if he did not, could have been barred from playing in the match at the Stade de France.
However, Mhlauri decided the cup final presented a career milestone for Mwaruwari and that Zimbabwe had to look beyond the match against Gabon in their relationship with the key forward.
Mwaruwari, who scored in Zimbabwe's last qualifier three months ago, is expected to be back for the country's World Cup assignment against Algeria in Oran on June 18.
The 26-year-old has scored 11 league goals for his French club this season.
His Auxerre availably will be a major boost for veteran coach Guy Roux whose key striker Luigi Pieroni misses the final against second division Sedan as he is playing for Belgium in a World Cup qualifier against Serbia and Montenegro the same night.
Auxerre have also been allowed to keep the services of Kanga Akale, excused by the Ivory Coast from their World Cup trip to Libya.
But Ivorian captain Bonaventure Kalou is to play in the World Cup African zone Group Three qualifier in Tripoli on Friday night before dashing back to France in a bid to make the Saturday evening kickoff at the Stade de France, the French daily L'Equipe reported on Wednesday.
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