(May 05,2005) ZIMBABWE’S Warriors are no longer going to Europe for a training camp after all. Instead the senior team is now expected to head for the Lowveld for an intensive training camp. The Warriors had been scheduled to travel to Belgium for a nine-day training camp from May 20-29, ahead of their 2006 World Cup and African Cup of Nations qualifier against Gabon at the National Sports Stadium on June 5. Zifa had received an offer from the Belgian Football Association to undertake a training camp as part of the preparations for the qualifiers but the visit has been put on hold, at least for now.

Rafik Khan, the Zifa chairman, said the association had made flight bookings for the trip after sourcing tickets from the Ministry of Transport and Communication but had been forced to defer the trip on the advice of the Warriors technical department.

Warriors team manager Ernest Sibanda yesterday confirmed that the camp in Belgium has been put on hold as they had realised that they were likely to play against lower league sides instead of some of the top teams in that country.

"By the time we are supposed to get there, the top teams would have finished the season and players released for a break. "Only the lower league sides might still be playing and I think we would not get any value by playing against them. "We should be getting value from the trip as we would not be on holiday. Tax payers’ money should not be wasted by going to play teams that would not be worth the preparations," said Sibanda. He said they would have liked to go to Belgium since the time affords them the chance to use the bulk of their South Africa-based professionals who will be on the off-season as their teams are completing their matches within the next two weeks.

The Warriors were expected to play at least three Division One clubs in Belgium. "It does not help much if we play social sides in Belgium when we are focusing on a serious match. "So we are saying as long as we do not get the top teams then there is no use of going and at the moment we just have to see if we can play some other countries," said Sibanda.

Khan said the offer to travel to Belgian still stood and his office would find out from the technical department on the period they felt was appropriate for them to undertake the trip.

"When I met Charles (Mhlauri) he told me that they would not derive the best if they go to Belgium now. He feels that he could be able to get better training here.

"As the coach he knows what we wants and we should respect that than appear to be interfering with his job.

"I still believe that we would be able to go in future before we play the other matches because we want to continue from the good win over Angola," said Khan.

The Zifa boss insisted that the cancellation of the trip was not due to lack of funding on the part of the association.

However, it remains questionable whether Zifa really did not know that it would have been off-season in Europe when they first made the arrangements for the Belgium trip.

The offer by the BFA, Khan said, still stood, as Zifa wanted to fully utilise their partnership with the Belgians.

As an alternative, Khan said, Zifa had received an offer to use facilities in the Lowveld.

"I guess the players would be camping somewhere outside Harare once the preparations start. Team manager Sibanda should be going to inspect the facilities in Triangle and see if they would be able to put up there.

"If we get any offers for friendly matches from the region then we will consider that," said Khan.