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Petros Kausiyo Deputy Sports Editor—
THEY may not have been getting the kind of recognition that their exploits richly deserve on the home front, but the Mighty Warriors’ Cinderella story in which they defied odds to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games has won them the admiration of the Confederation of African Football. CAF on Monday short-listed the senior national women’s soccer side together with three others — Ghana, Cameroon and South Africa — who are vying for the Team of the Year award at the continental body’s Glo Awards ceremony on January 7, in Abuja, Nigeria.
Since their sensational triumph over Cameroon to book a place at the Olympic Games and become the first Zimbabwean team to qualify for the global sports showcase, the Mighty Warriors have largely lived in the shadows of their male counterparts, the Warriors, and the seemingly endless ZIFA and Women’s Football boardroom haggling.
But on Monday, CAF reminded the local football family of the significance of the Mighty Warriors’ achievement by including them on the short list of teams vying for the prestigious award.
The Mighty Warriors’ recognition by CAF left ZIFA president Philip Chiyangwa an elated man and the property mogul yesterday issued a statement congratulating coach — Shadreck Mlauzi — and his troops for their nomination onto the list of finalists for the Women’s Team of the Year.
Chiyangwa told the ZIFA website that his association was excited by the nomination, which he reckoned highlighted the huge strides being taken by his association in developing the women’s game.
The ZIFA president also revealed that his South African Football Association counterpart Danny Jordaan, with whom he met in Johannesburg last weekend, had also congratulated Zimbabwe for the Mighty Warriors’ qualification to the Olympics.
Although there are four teams short-listed by CAF, it is the Mighty Warriors who really defied the odds and moved mountains to qualify for the Olympics with the women’s team at one stage being expelled from the qualifiers after they had failed to fulfil their trip to Cote d’Ivoire because of lack of funding.
But once they got a lifeline to compete on the field of play and not in the boardroom, the Mighty Warriors showed their class by sensationally knocking out Cameroon in the final qualifiers.
The West Africans had won 2-1 in Yaoundé before the Mighty Warriors turned the tables at Rufaro with a 1-0 triumph. Rudo Neshamba struck the solitary goal in the ninth minute which tied the aggregate scores at 2-2, but Zimbabwe advanced courtesy of the away goal’s rule. Neshamba had found the goal that had kept the Mighty Warriors dream alive in that 2-1 losing cause in Cameroon.
After sealing their place on Team Zimbabwe’s entourage to the Olympics, the Mighty Warriors stand on the threshold of adding another chapter to their fairytale run by possibly winning the CAF award.
This development has left new ZIFA president — Chiyangwa — an excited man.
“The Mighty Warriors are a shining example to all national teams. I, and on behalf of all members of the football fraternity, salute the dedication of the Mighty Warriors in bringing glory to this beautiful nation,” Chiyangwa told www.zifa.org.zw <http://www.zifa.org.zw/www.zifa.org.zw>.
“We are excited as a nation to see them perform so well and being recognised for displaying a higher degree of excellence and we are very proud of this remarkable recognition by CAF.
“This is very historic and the Mighty Warriors have shown amazing character. My board is ready to ensure that the development of women football takes centre stage. “I am optimistic that this recognition will inspire other national teams to work tirelessly. We feel greatly honoured that our own girls have reached this milestone and have been recognised for an illustrious achievement.
“This is extremely massive and a clear testimony of the strides that we are making as a country in the development of women football,” Chiyangwa said. According to CAF, the winners will be decided by votes from the CAF Football and Media Committees except the Legend and Platinum awards, which are not subject to vote, while the CAF Refereeing Committee will cast votes for the Referee of the Year Award.
Zimbabwe Olympic Committee chief executive, Anna Mguni also congratulated the Mighty Warriors but insisted that focus should not be lost on the bigger picture which is to ensure that women’s side adequately prepares for the bigger challenges they will face in Rio de Janeiro.
“Obviously it is a great accolade and I hope it will boost them to know that on the African continent they have become a force to reckon with. “But they must not lose sight of where they are going and what they need to do to acquit themselves well at the Olympic Games,’’ Mguni said.
The ZOC chief executive was, however, not amused that the Mighty Warriors had not been receiving the kind of recognition, which their achievement really deserve and the fact that they continue to live in the shadows of their male counterparts.
Mguni felt there was more prominence and attention given to the Warriors’ African Nations Championships squad with little or no attention attached to the Mighty Warriors’ Olympics side. “We are chasing after CHAN and don’t seem to be doing much about the girls who are on a world platform. With all due respect the Mighty Warriors deserve credit, they deserve more assistance,’’ Mguni said.
Mguni also indicated her disappointment with the alleged lackadaisical approach to business by the ZIFA secretariat in assisting her ZOC with the necessary information needed in the team’s registration with the IOC.
CAF Women National Team of the Year finalists: Ghana, Cameroon, South Africa and Zimbabwe
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