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Sports Reporter
Angola . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1) 2
Zimbabwe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1) 1
The Mighty Warriors dragged themselves into a precipice after suffering this shock defeat in the first leg of the penultimate 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifying round in Luanda yesterday.
Zimbabwe will now be on the back foot as they head for the reverse fixture at Lucas Moripe Stadium in Pretoria, South Africa, next week.
They have to overturn the deficit in order to remain on course for the final qualifying round, where Malawi are waiting in ambush for a place at the WAFCON finals in Morocco next year.
It’s a disappointing start to life for the country under a new ZIFA leadership ushered into office last month.
That executive has done a lot of work to motivate the girls, including giving them training allowances, which the Mighty Warriors have never been recipients of in their 34-year history.
Apart from being motivated, the Mighty Warriors are a higher-ranked side compared to their opponents.
But all that didn’t matter at the end of the day, as Angola simply did more to get the result.
It was somewhat unusual to see the Mighty Warriors in such an elementary disposition, conceding the first goal from double-scorer Aminda Lopes Papel right from kick-off with hardly 20 seconds on the clock.
A diagonal pass from the centre circle caught Nobukhosi Ncube unawares, and a lofted cross from the channel skipped over Zimbabwe’s centre-back pairing of Sheila Antonio and Egness Tumbare onto the path of Papel, who picked the far right corner, with the brutally exposed goalkeeper Lindiwe Magwede unable to do anything.
Magwede is a top goalkeeper, and there was nothing she could have done about it, but she did keep Zimbabwe in the game on more than three occasions as Angola probed.
While the home side decided to hold it up, protecting their lead and cushioning their goal, the Mighty Warriors cooled it down and started playing with some purpose.
Captain Emmaculate Msipa came closer to levelling matters when coming to the end of a perfect corner kick by Alice Moyo, but she didn’t put enough power behind her header, although she was completely unmarked in the box in the 11th minute.
Five minutes later, Ruvimbo Mucherera, making her debut for the Mighty Warriors, got the equaliser ghosting to tap in a good cross from Ethel Chinyerere from the right flank.
With scores level, both teams seemed content with the prevailing tempo and mostly concentrated play in the midfield areas. At times, Zimbabwe were being outplayed in that department, with both Danai Bhobho and Msipa too passive and most of the work being done by Daisy Kaitano.
Coach Sithethelelwe “Kwinji 15” Sibanda promptly replaced Bhobho with Shyline Dambamuromo at the restart, and for once, the midfield became functional with some hybrid brand of football, although Msipa was a constant disappointment.
With the Mighty Warriors enjoying some good spells, they could have scored on several occasions, but the clearest of the chances they got came with 17 minutes still to play. Veteran Rutendo Makore dribbled her marker inside out, and from an acute angle, the best she could have done was to lay the ball to a teammate, but a tired Msipa wasn’t quick enough to give her that option, and the Black Rhinos Queens striker elected to go spectacular; however, she missed the crossbar by a few inches.
Immediately after the miss, Angola pounced, Papel finding herself face-to-face with Magwede again and putting the ball past the impressive Zimbabwean goalie to all but secure the home side’s win.
Sibanda expressed disappointment in the manner with which they lost the game, but she remains optimistic they will eliminate Angola in the return leg in Pretoria.
