REPORTS that Warriors coach Michael Nees was forced to drop forward Tino Kadewere for their World Cup qualifier against Rwanda following his altercation with journalist Yvonne Mangunda, have been dismissed.

Kadewere and Mangunda had a short touchline bust-up at Orlando Stadium in South Africa where Zimbabwe were training ahead of their match against Rwanda.

His absence from the matchday squad had sent tongues wagging, with many arguing he had been dropped by Nees, a case that has been dismissed by sources within the ZIFA entourage in South Africa who explained his absence.

"ZIFA put out a statement on the matter and that was it. He was not dropped but injured on Monday," said a source from within the entourage.

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"Those who noticed, on Monday he sat out most of the training because of a knock he got last Friday (when Zimbabwe played Benin in Ivory Coast)."

Speaking after another, slim 1-0 loss Nees fell short of begging for peace and unity, saying the matter had been rested.

"I appeal to everybody to stick together, be a little bit humble. We had incidents here and I hope they are all sorted out," said Nees.

"We will not benefit; we all need positive energy. We wanted to break that with a result to get that positive mood. Definitely we have too much noise, there is no doubt about that...we have to stop that on various platforms."

Social media has been ablaze since the incident, with fans unevenly divided between Kadewere and Mangunda.

Kadewere, despite a dip in form, has found favour and been saluted for standing up for himself while Mangunda is being accused of being toxic towards followers of her Facebook page.