Mighty Warriors praying for senior team

Angola in the decisive Nations Cup qualifier in Luanda on Sunday.
Speaking here after the Zimbabwe women’s national soccer team arrived for two international matches against Banyana Banyana, Chingawo revealed that their thoughts were also with the Warriors.
The Mighty Warriors are out of the African Cup of Nations after they failed to qualify following their 6-0 on aggregate defeat at the hands of Nigeria.
The women’s Nations Cup finals will be played in Equatorial Guinea later this month, starting from October 28, and South Africa have qualified and are using these two matches against their neighbours to fine-tune their preparations.
“We wish the boys all the best and our chances are high,” said Chingawo.
“My advice is they shouldn’t play defensive football as you cannot defend for 90 minutes.
“As the Mighty Warriors, we will be praying for them and will be closely following the match from here.
“Qualifying for African Cup of Nations will be good for our football and for everyone.
“I think Energy should be in goals on Match Day as I believe experience counts much when playing games of this magnitude.”
Turning to their international games, the skipper, who helped Zimbabwe lift the Cosafa championship on home soil last July when they beat Banyana Banyana 1-0 at Rufaro, says they are treating their matches seriously. We are not taking these matches as friendly games and we will do our best,” said Chingawo.
“We will give them competition as we are also using these matches to prepare for next year’s qualifiers.
“I am sure these games will help South Africans to see their weaknesses and strengths.
“These days our matches are now close affairs and they no longer dominate us and we feel we could also have been one of the teams going to the African Cup of Nations had the draw been kind to us.
“It was unfortunate that we were drawn against Nigeria in the last qualifying round and we had been inactive for years before starting again last year and there was no way we would have expected to stand against them.
“The Nigerians had been active, competing at tournaments like World Cup and Olympics, all these years.
“We will now watch from the sidelines and it is very unfortunate and that is why we are serious with these practice matches as we prepare for upcoming qualifiers next year.”
Chingawo said the team was in good shape as all the players were active at their respective clubs in the Marange Resources National Women’s Soccer League.
“The league is very competitive this season and at my club Mufakose we used to win by big margins like 15-0 but it is no longer the case.
“The games have become tougher and teams have improved.
“We went to Zambia three months ago and we won 4-0 in another friendly match but you can see that the team has improved as players are playing week in and week out at the clubs.
“The fight for jerseys has intensified into the team as some new players are coming up,” said Chingawo.
Two new players, New Orleans defender Sicelo Dube and Inline Academy midfielder Rejoice Kamumvumvuti, have forced their way into the final team which arrived here last afternoon after a short trip from Harare.
Safa, who invited Zimbabwe, are meeting all the expenses, including airfares, for the 28-member delegation.