play_arrow

keyboard_arrow_right

Listeners:

Top listeners:

skip_previous skip_next
00:00 00:00
playlist_play chevron_left
volume_up
Go to album
  • cover play_arrow

    LISTEN NOW: JafriQ Radio Live On Jafriq Radio

News

Zimbabwe: Mighty Warriors Gear for Moza Test

todayOctober 19, 2024 2

Background
share close

[ad_1]

Veronica Gwaze, Sports Reporter

ZIMBABWE Senior Women’s Football team are not leaving anything to chance in their preparations and quest to make an impression at the COSAFA Women’s Championships in South Africa.

The tournament starts on October 22.

And the Mighty Warriors face a tough opening assignment in a cagey three-team Group D where there is little margin for error. Zimbabwe will begin their semi-final bid against Mozambique before they take on Lesotho three days later.

The tournament which runs until November 2, returns to Nelson Mandela Bay in Gqeberha, South Africa with a record 14 teams vying for honours.

With Mozambique seated at position 99 on the FIFA World Rankings and Lesotho 176th the opener will be a huge ask for the Mighty Warriors who over the years have slid into 125.

“It will not be an easy one so we have to be at our best right from the preparations,” said Mighty Warriors coach Sithethelelwe “Kwinji 15” Sibanda.

“Everything is going well, there is a lot of progress as far as training is concerned.

“Players are showing a lot of commitment, the work rate is high and so is the competition in camp.”

In the last COSAFA edition, Mozambique finished off the tournament as bronze medallists after beating Zimbabwe 2-0 in the third-place play-offs.

Interestingly the two sides appeared at the first COSAFA Women’s Championship in 2002 where Mozambique were handed a humiliating 11-1 defeat by hosts Zimbabwe at Rufaro in the knock-out rounds.

However, they (Mozambique) went on to reach the semi-finals.

In 2019, they also lost 0-4 to the Mighty Warriors to bow out of the competition bottom in their pool after losing all their group games. However, since then, a lot has changed for the two sides.

While Mozambique made strides in improving its status in the region, the Mighty Warriors have regressed.

They are now having to rebuild from the ashes of the mess that Women’s football was plunged into by the previous ZIFA leadership under Felton Kamambo.

Sibanda has sought to strike a balance between youth and experience in her rebuilding exercise, handing first national team call-ups to Morelife Nyagumbo, Precious Mudyiwa, Ethel Chinyerere, Mitchel John, Patience Ndlovu, Peace-more Kanende, Vanessa Lunga, Sheila Antonio, Talent Chimbadzo and Nadia Semba among others.