Mighty Warriors in narrow defeat

Ellina Mhlanga Harare Bureau
THE Mighty Warriors’ dreams of qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Games are still alive after they narrowly went down 1-2 to Cameroon in the first leg of the last round in Yaounde on Saturday.

The senior national women’s soccer side, who left the country on Friday ahead of Saturday’s match, got their crucial away goal from striker Rudo Neshamba to keep their hopes of qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, very much alive.

Zimbabwe were the first to score but Cameroon put up a spirited fight to come from behind and win the match 2-1.

However, for Zimbabwe it was a brave fight taking into consideration the circumstances surrounding the team’s preparations for this crucial match.

The Mighty Warriors had less than a week to prepare for the game and had last competed in a competitive match in May against Zambia while on the other hand their opponents were at the World Cup in June and they are just coming from the African Games where they lost 0-1 to Ghana in the final in Congo Brazzaville.

The Shadreck Mlauzi-coached side only managed to travel for Saturday’s match game after the intervention of the Minister of Sport and Recreation, Makhosini Hlongwane, who mobilised resources for the team on Thursday.

Zifa had failed to raise the needed funds for the trip which had been scheduled for Thursday despite committing themselves to Fifa that they will fulfil the game. The second leg will be played over the weekend of October 16 to 18 at Rufaro in Harare.

The winner from this tie qualifies for next year’s Olympic Games and Zimbabwe has never qualified for this global event before.

The Mighty Warriors progressed to the last round of the qualifiers after the withdrawal of Cote d’’Ivoire in August.

The team was expected back in the country last night.