Vusumuzi Dube
Tadious Manyepo in JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
MOST of the players in the Mighty Warriors squad have defied adversity.
Their lives would have gone down south had it not been for football.
At 17, no nonsense midfielder Shyleen Dambamuromo was already a veteran banana vendor travelling between Honde Valley and Harare at least twice a week.
At the same age, the Herentals Queens star almost settled for marriage before she decided to pull out on the 11th hour.
And the rest is history.
Edline Mutumbami was so frustrated that she wanted to quit football as her parents didn’t want her to play the game.
It took the intervention of passionate Checheche based football coach Sailas Chawira to rescue Mutumbami’s career.
Winger Alice Moyo grew up in a Children’s Home in Mutare and never imagined that one day she would represent the country as a footballer.
The 22-year-old was harbouring basketball ambitions but she was often overlooked in the school team for being too tiny.
She only realised that she could play football professionally after she was identified at a tournament in which she was a bit-part player by Faith Drive Academy scouts.
Goalkeeper Cynthia Shonga, who is widely seen as the present and the future has her own tale to tell.
The list is endless.
Maudy Mafuruse, Christabel Katona, Purity Mugayi…
This crop of the Mighty Warriors has the odds stuck against them at the moment.
They are the first team to play an international tournament following the lifting of a Fifa suspension that ran for close to two years.
They are seen as an underdog of some sort in the on-going Cosafa Women’s Championship that are underway in South Africa.
But they are a group dominated by players who have defied the odds all their lives.
And that alone can help them over the line.
They started their campaign on a high note beating Lesotho 1-0 at the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Pretoria on Friday.
With Namibia and Botswana playing out a 1-1, Zimbabwe are in the driving seat in their group.
And they can dare to dream.
“We are very happy as players that we are back to the international fora,” said Dambamuromo.
“As a team we have always told each other that everything is possible.
“We are happy that we managed to beat Lesotho in our first match on Friday.
“That first game was very crucial as far as our future in the tournament was concerned.
“We are looking not only to win the next matches but to go all the way and even win the cup itself. Nothing is impossible in this world.”
Zimbabwe play Namibia at Dobsonville Stadium tomorrow and they will be looking to consolidating their place at the top.
And for Moyo, the match against Namibia is a must win.
“We are carrying a positive mentality into that match,” said Moyo.
“Namibia is a very good team and we can’t afford to slip. We need to top the group. So we must be focused as a team.
“We have very good players in our fold who can give the nation what it deserves. Winning the Cosafa Trophy will be good for the nation especially coming from a very difficult period.”
Winners of each of the three groups of four teams will advance to the semi-finals with the best-performing runners-up across the pools also going through to the last four.
“We need to finish on top of the group, no excuses,” said Moyo.
“Our destiny is within our own control. So it’s up to us to continue posting results.”
Shonga, who suffered a hip injury in the opening match against Lesotho is back on her feet and could once again be thrust into action tomorrow.
Zimbabwe will conclude their group ties with a date against Botswana on Wednesday as they bid for their first Cosafa title since 2011.
Bongani Ndlovu