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Grace Chingoma, Harare Bureau
THE Mighty Warriors will regroup after eight months to prepare for the Cosafa Women Championship which will begin at the end of this month in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
The Zimbabwe senior women’s national football team has been inactive since October last year when they featured in the same tournament at the same venue.
The Mighty Warriors exited the tournament at the semi-finals.
Zifa, who are working on the team’s camping programme, will this week announce the schedules for both the senior team and the Young Mighty Warriors.
The Under-20 team is set to play at the Cosafa Championships after the regional body introduced the age-group competition as a way of developing women’s football from an early stage.
And Zifa, who are yet to establish a technical team for the Under-20 team, are expected to name the coaches this week, paving way for both teams to go into camp.
Yesterday, Zifa spokesperson, Xolisani Gwesela, said they are still working on the Cosafa championships modalities with the teams expected to go into camp by end of this week.
Mighty Warriors coach Sithethelelwe “Kwinji 15” Sibanda has since indicated that it is important that they adequately prepare for the regional tournament if they want to win the title again.
The Mighty Warriors won the Cosafa title once in 2011 when they made history and beat rivals South Africa 1-0 in the final.
In 2017, they reached the final at Barbourfields but lost 1-2 to Banyana Banyana.
The South African team managed to defend their title at home last year.
Zimbabwe will battle it out with Mozambique, Angola and Eswatini in their group.
While the Young Mighty Warriors have a tough task in their group where they play hosts South Africa, Namibia and Malawi.
Sibanda has been monitoring the progress of various players at their clubs. She was in Harare recently where she had an opportunity to assess some national team regulars during the super league matches as well as scout for fresh talent.
Online Reporter