Mighty Warriors brace for Arab challenge

Tunisia in the Arab Cup, which bursts into life this afternoon, as they prepare for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations.
The Zimbabwean delegation arrived here in the early hours of yesterday after leaving the capital on Saturday afternoon.
Since last year, the Mighty Warriors had been confined to Southern African opposition and had a feel of East African opposition, when they played Tanzania, who were invited as special guests, to the Cosafa Championships.
Zimbabwe again met the Twiga Stars of Tanzania at the All-Africa Games in Maputo and also rubbed shoulders with West African opposition, Ghana, who were in the same group.
But the competition was fierce and the Mighty Warriors lost 1-0 to Ghana to bow out of the tournament while the matches against Twiga ended in a 1-0 victory in Harare before settling for a 2-2 draw in Maputo.
However, the team will have another litmus test starting from this afternoon with a clash against the hosts.
They will then play Tunisia on Wednesday, in a round robin tournament, before the north African neighbours square off in the last game of the tournament on Friday.
Zimbabwe, who won the Cosafa Championships on home soil in July, have been invited as special guests to add flair to the Arabic and technical advisor Maxwell Takaendesa Jongwe believes his charges will give the teams a good run.
Interestingly, the Egyptians now have former Highlanders coach Mohammed Fathi as their head coach.
“We are ready for both matches and we are confident that we will give the hosts a good run for their money. It is good to meet North African opposition in friendly matches and it will help us as we prepare for the African Cup of Nations.
“At the All-Africa Games we missed out an opportunity of playing teams such as Algeria because we failed to progress to the next rounds.
“And we are happy to get such an opportunity through a tournament of this magnitude. I believe playing these two matches will give us an overview of how teams from this part of the continent play and will help us as we prepare for upcoming fixtures.
“The girls are ready, they are in shape as they have been playing club football and are more hungry for success after failing to make an impact at the All-Africa Games.
“It would be a tight programme playing two matches inside three days but the team has the strength to go all the way and make a mark here,” said Jongwe.
Zimbabwe have been drawn to play to Botswana in the preliminary round with West Africans giants Nigeria waiting in the wings.
And winning against the Super Falcons will guarantee Zimbabwe a ticket to the African Women Championships, which is the women’s version of the African Cup of Nations.
However, the Mighty Warriors may not feature in the qualifying rounds as they have been given the green light to host next year’s tournament by Caf and have agreed but are now waiting for Government approval to host the tournament.