Warriors striker, Tinotenda Kadewere, currently playing for French Ligue 1 club FC Nantes, has quashed rumours suggesting he has retired from international football following the recent 2026 World Cup Qualifiers.
The speculation arose after Kadewere shared a social media post during the June 2024 international break, which some interpreted as a retirement announcement after Zimbabwe’s matches against Lesotho and South Africa in the qualifiers.
He posted a picture of himself in the Zimbabwe national team jersey and captioned – “last dance, and I don’t want to die”.
Speaking on the Ollah 7 Podcast, the 28-year-old clarified that he has no plans to retire from the national team, adding that the “last dance” implied the end of his season.
The Warriors’ games against Lesotho and South Africa were his final two games before the end of the 2023/24 season. Said Kadewere:
This quote meant – the last dance of the season, because those games (against Lesotho and South Africa) were the last two matches of my campaign.
The season in France had ended, but I still had two more games to play with the Warriors.
So this was my last dance of the season before I rested. That’s why I went on a holiday with my family soon after playing those matches.
People started speculating about my future, and I knew about it, but I chose to ignore it.
In the lead-up to Zimbabwe’s crucial 2026 World Cup Qualifiers against Lesotho and South Africa, Kadewere found himself the subject of criticism on social media platforms due to his recent goal-scoring struggles for the Warriors.
Kadewere said he was not paying attention to “armchair critics” and “pseudo-activists”. He said:
We can’t be so naive to think that a striker’s role is all about scoring goals.
You are up there and sometimes come deep to help in midfield roles and get to provide goalscoring chances for teammates.
Sometimes, as a striker, to be realistic, you are not always lucky with goals. You get chances and you put some of them away and miss the other chances.
More: Pindula News