Mighty Warriors bask in Cosafa glory

technical advisor Maxwell Takaendesa Jongwe believes the tournament gave them real competition ahead of the All-Africa Games.
The women’s soccer team underlined their growing status with a 1-0 victory over three-time champions South Africa before a good crowd at Rufaro, to end Banyana Banyana’s dominance in the region.
A lot of people came to support the Mighty Warriors but the poor organisation by Zifa marred the otherwise perfect tournament.
The mother body opened a few gates making it difficult for supporters to get into the stadium, resulting in chaos at the gates while some fans found their way in for free after breaking the gate behind the Vietnam stand.
Nonetheless, it was refreshing that the team lifted the trophy on home soil after two years of toiling in the wilderness.
Yesterday Jongwe, who has been working with gaffer Rosemary Mugadza, assistant Joa Chikaola and goalkeepers’ coach Nkululeko Dlamini said the tournament helped them with the competitive edge ahead of the 10th edition of the All-Africa Games in Maputo in September.
Zimbabwe qualified for the quadrennial games two months ago after beating Zambia and Angola in the qualifiers.
East Africans Tanzania, who lost to the Mighty Warriors in a penalty shootout in the semi-finals of the Cosafa games on Thursday, and South Africa will also be competing at the Maputo finals.
But Jongwe reckons that the multi-sport event in Mozambique is different from the Cosafa tournament and is obviously tougher than the regional competition.
“We got the necessary competition before the games in Maputo. The players really got the feel of football out there and what to expect at the tournament.
“When a team goes to a tournament they would be anticipating to win but considering that women’s football has been stagnant, the first objective is to go past the group stages. By that we would have made history like we did on Saturday by lifting the Cosafa title,” said Jongwe.
The CAPS United coach said the girls have shown tremendous improvement but a lot can be improved up front.
“The girls are working hard and since they started playing in the qualifiers they haven’t lost a match but only drew 1-1 away in Angola.
“I have been lucky to be associated with the team and we have been improving with every outing.
“However, we could do better by being precise in front of goal, we are not yet very sharp.
“We are creating chances but our conversion rate is poor. We observed some weaknesses in all departments but the goalkeepers have improved a lot. Although Onai (Chingawo) has always been good, the coming in of Nkululeko has improved the department greatly.
“We work as a team and we do not really bank on individual performance.
“Onai did well while Eunice Chibanda was enterprising, Majika (Nobuhle) was solid and Danai came in and was solid as well. Ruvimbo (Mutyavaviri) was disciplined. In fact, everyone was involved because for Rufaro (Machingura) to be scoring there needed someone to be supplying and to cover for her in defence.
“And I was also impressed by Emmaculate Msipa who had to cope with playing rightback in the second half and did well, playing a position she has never played,” said Jongwe.
Coach Mugadza has rebuilt her team around the Under-20 players who won gold at the Zone Vl Youth Games in Swaziland in December last year.
Centreback Majika captained the side which featured Rudo Neshamba, Chibanda, Machingura, Msipa, Chaparangana and substitute goalkeeper Chido Dzingirai.
Even Banyana Banyana coach Joseph Mkhonza praised Mugadza for believing in youth.
“Zimbabwe is now one of the best teams in southern region. They have young players, which is good. I also believe in youth and have been introducing young players in my team,” said Mkhonza.
South Africa will be playing in the last qualifying round of the London 2012 Olympic qualifiers against Ethiopia in August and Mkhonza said the Cosafa tournament gave them the right platform to prepare.
“This tournament really gave us the platform to prepare. We are very anxious about going to the Olympics and it was a positive move by our association to bring us here. We really benefited especially in our matches against Tanzania and South Africa,” said Mkhonza.
South Africa had won the three previous Cosafa tournaments in 2002, 2006 and 2008.