Warriors interim coach Joey ‘Mafero’ Antipas has defended his selection on his first squad on the job, describing the team as ‘youthful and balanced’.

The Chicken Inn coach, two days ago named his first Warriors squad after replacing Sunday Chidzambwa and many were skeptical of his decision to exclude some regular players but Antipas believes in the squad to face Somalia in a 2022 World Cup qualifier preliminary round.

“One thing I don’t want to do is comment about the players who are missing (on the squad). All I will comment on is on the team that is going. The team is a youthful side, it’s a balanced team,” he said according to NewsDay. 

“I would say I believe they will definitely do the business in Somalia, but the main thing was to create more of a player base for the substantive coach who will come in.” he added.