Mighty Warriors eye semis

when they meet Malawi in their second match at Rufaro this afternoon.
The match kicks-off at 3.15pm.
The Zimbabwe senior women’s soccer team, who hammered Lesotho 4-0 in their opening Group A match at the same venue on Saturday, lead the group with Lesotho second after they beat Mozambique 3-2 in a group A match yesterday.
Malawi and Mozambique have a point each following their 1-1 draw in the opening match.
But this afternoon’s tie is not only significant to the team – which will have at least secured a place in the semis – but is also historic as it will be watched by Fifa boss Sepp Blatter and secretary-general Jerome Valcke.
The Fifa president, who is expected to fly into the country this morning, will attend this Cosafa match and will also attend a number of Zifa functions before leaving for Durban, South Africa, tomorrow.
With a lot of dignitaries expected to attend today’s match together with the Fifa boss, the Mighty Warriors, who are on a rise, would want to cap this historic moment by producing a five-star performance.
After watching her charges cruising to a 4-0 victory over Lesotho on Saturday, Mighty Warriors coach Rosemary Mugadza says she wants more and is expecting her troops to improve on their performance in this afternoon’s match against Malawi.
Even Warriors cheerleader Chris “Romario” Musekiwa, who has vowed to charm the world governing soccer body boss and show him that little Zimbabwe are a “soccer crazy nation”, just wants the supporters and the Mighty Warriors to be on song during the entire match.
Mighty Warriors coach Mugadza would not be reading much into the fact that their opponents Malawi are bouncing back onto the international scene after missing out for three years.
Malawi last participated in the 2006 Cosafa tournament in Zambia, losing all their three group matches, and the Football Association of Malawi decided to pull them out of international football, saying they were not ready.
But they have been rebuilding their women’s soccer side, playing football in all regions in their country and will be participating in the 2012 African Women Championships qualifiers later this year and they are probably using this tournament as a measure of their progress.
But Mugadza, who is anticipating stiffer challenges from South Africa and Tanzania in the next stages, has told her troops to lift up their game.
“We didn’t play well in our first game on Saturday against Lesotho. I think complacency crept into the girls and they underrated their opponents.
“But we are telling them we need to win this tournament so it is important to convincingly win our group matches and boost our morale.
“We are aware that we are likely to meet either Tanzania or South Africa in the semis so we have to be at our best now because it will not be easy to lift our game when we face them. We have to perfect our performance now,” said Mugadza.
The former Mighty Warriors captain said she is likely to make some changes in today’s tie against Malawi.
“Rudo (Neshamba) has a minor problem and we might also give our second choice goalkeeper Chido Dzingirai a run.
“This is a tournament and all the players should get a chance to play in it.
“Striker Rufaro Machingura, who came on in the second half against Lesotho, is likely to start together with Elizabeth Chaparangana in midfield,” said Mugadza.
The gaffer was also not amused by her centreback partnership of Nobuhle Majika and Patience Mujuru and revealed she will have to work on it with the axe likely to fall on the diminutive Mujuru.
The defence, which lacked communication, was just lucky they were not breached by a weak Lesotho on Saturday and sticking to the partnership of Majika and Mujuru this afternoon might be suicidal.
“The centre backs’ combination wasn’t working. In our previous matches, Nobuhle has been playing with Lynette (Mutokuto) but she is not in the team due to personal commitments. But we will make some changes here and there, judging from what we observed in the first game.
“We will just attack from the onset hoping that after scoring an early goal we won’t relax,” said Mugadza.
Against Lesotho on Saturday, Neshamba headed in the Mighty Warriors’ first goal but had a subdued match and it seems she has not recovered from the knock that she got in her local team Inline’s league match against New Orleans the previous weekend. But her absence will not leave Zimbabwe short of ammunition upfront as gangly striker Machingura, who came on as a substitute and scored Zimbabwe’s third goal, is on fire. Fellow striker Kuda Bhasopo also came on as a substitute, putting the icing on the cake with the fourth goal for Zimbabwe against Lesotho. Hardworking midfielder Tsitsi Mairosi had scored the team’s second goal.
Though the Mighty Warriors did well as a team against Lesotho, Mugadza said she was impressed by defensive midfielder Talent Mandaza who covered every blade of the pitch, executing good passes and would be hoping that the Black Rhinos midfielder will have another blinding show this afternoon.
The Mighty Warriors will be looking at finishing top in their group and brace for a semi-final duel against Tanzania who may finish second in Group B.
Banyana Banyana cruised to a 4-1 victory against Zambia on Saturday with former African Footballer of the Year Noku Matlou scoring a hat-trick while guests Tanzania beat Botswana 3-1.
Mugadza, who watched Banyana Banyana’s opening match against Zambia on Saturday, said the Mighty Warriors know their neighbours very well but were surprised by their rather subdued performance against the Zambians.
“Maybe it was because of their opponents. But we know what they are capable of and we will see how Tanzania play today (yesterday).” said Mugadza.