THE Warriors have been saved the nightmare of travelling a grueling 600km journey by road for the international friendly match against Malawi after ZIFA finally bowed to pressure and arranged a charter flight.

The 18-member squad was originally scheduled to travel to Blantyre by road on Friday morning but there was a huge outcry from the football stakeholders over the plans.

The Warriors are now set to leave for Malawi on Saturday morning.

The road trip usually takes about eight to 10 hours. Stakeholders, including the Footballers Union of Zimbabwe felt, the arrangement was unfair on the players.

This would have provided a throwback to the Warriors’ infamous tour to Malawi, for their 2017 AFCON qualifier, when Callisto Pasuwa was the head coach.

The Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) also insisted ZIFA, who recently received COVID-19 bailout from CAF and FIFA, should work on an alternative using the resources at their disposal.

THE Warriors were initially set to leave Friday morning by road for the international friendly match on Sunday.

The travelling party includes all the players called up by coach Zdravko Logarusic, except the duo of Alec Mudimu who plays for Sherrif Tiraspol in Moldova, and Khama Billiat of Kaizer Chiefs. The duo will fly straight to Malawi, according to Xolisani Gwesela the ZIFA spokesperson.

Also set to be part of the trip is Aston Villa’s Marvelous Nakamba, who arrived in the country on Thursday night, and Turkish-based Teenage Hadebe, whose flight touched down at Robert Mugabe International Airport on Friday morning.