Online Reporter
Veronica Gwaze-Zimpapers Sports Hub
ZIMBABWE’S Mighty Warriors will arrive at this year’s edition of the COSAFA Tournament chasing a dream bigger than silverware as coach Sithethelelwe Sibanda has been tasked to build for the future.
Sibanda will build a team for the Olympics or the CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in the next three years while in the fourth year they should be aiming for the World Cup.
However, their most immediate assignment is the regional showpiece, which gets underway in Polokwane, South Africa.
The tournament is running from February 18 to March 1 with 11 teams ready to battle it out for the top honours. Teams have been split into three groups, two with four teams and one with three.
Zimbabwe were drawn into Group B alongside competition favourites Zambia, Eswatini and Botswana, where they have to fight for a top spot or be the best placed runner up in all groups to progress to the semi-finals.
COSAFA yesterday reminded participating teams of the rules and regulations governing this tournament.
Group standings will be decided in the first instance by the number of points a team has obtained in all games.
If two teams are level on points, then the first tiebreaker is the number of points obtained in matches between them, which is the head-to-head rule.
After that it can be down to the goal difference in the matches between the teams concerned and then the greatest number of goals scored in all the matches between the teams.
While Sibanda will want to make an impression at the Cup tournament, her employers at ZIFA revealed that her major task is to lay a foundation for the future.
“For this year’s competitions, we are putting our best foot forward although we are looking at this whole structure with a long-term perspective,” said ZIFA president, Nqobile Magwizi.
The coach is impressed with her new-look Mighty Warriors’ progress after a fortnight in camp, ahead of the South African showcase.
This exercise is expected to restore trust and confidence in women football enthusiasts who have for long been left disappointed with neglect of the girls.
“Kwinji 15” expressed confidence and renewed zeal in how business has been going on in camp.
“So far everything has been good, the players have impressively adjusted their fitness levels,” she said.
“Remember we are coming from the off season, most players have not been very active so coming from such a background, the first reaction was for us to go on an aggressive regime to gain some fitness.”
Currently her squad is a blend of senior players and more rookies who will be making their COSAFA debut. These players were introduced into the team at the Three Nations Tournament in Malawi in December, and yet to feature in a major tournament.
However, just after the tournament, the women’s domestic league went off season, leaving the players inactive.
They only got back to action when they regrouped, a fortnight ago, leaving little time for a proper turnaround.
“They have been responding well even though they will not be fully fit because the truth is that there is no way we can get them to full fitness in two weeks,” she said.
“We simply worked on getting them fit enough to be able to manage the games at least.”
The coach is expected to release the final squad by tomorrow, before the team departs for South Africa on Tuesday.
Sibanda admits that her rebuilding exercise has been a demanding process.
“We were surrounded by massive talent and coming with the final squad was not easy,” she said.
“We first addressed fitness levels then went on to competitions where we played a number of in-house friendlies to try different combinations to see who is better ready for the tournament.”
