adminEllina Mhlanga in CAIRO, Egypt
THE MIGHTY Warriors will round off their international friendly matches here this afternoon when they take on Egypt seeking to hit back at their hosts for a painful defeat they suffered on Wednesday. Zimbabwe and Egypt are using these matches to prepare their teams for the African Women Championships starting next month.
The senior women national football team goes into the match hoping for a win after they were defeated 3-2 on Wednesday.
Zimbabwe had taken the lead, scoring two goals within 10 minutes, but the Egyptians came from behind to win the game.
Mighty Warriors assistant coach Yohannes Chikaola said they were going to make some changes with strikers Rutendo Makore and Rudo Neshamba, who started on the bench in the last game, expected to lead the strike force today.
The two take over from Violet Bepete, who scored one of the two goals on Wednesday, and Erina Jeke.
“Basically, the game tomorrow (today) is a must-win we should go home with a win. We should not go home empty-handed and we have resolved that we should start with the two strikers we rested, Rutendo Makore and Rudo Neshamba, that’s the grey areas which we noted when we lost the game last time,” said Chikaola.
The Mighty Warriors assistant coach said they were also likely to make some changes in the midfield after Marjory Nyaumwe was sent off in the previous game.
“We were much better than Egypt but we lost because of refereeing, it was questionable but that is in the past.
“Now we are concentrating on the last game, we should win.
“Psychologically, we have prepared them that whatever the referee does on the field of play it should not stop them from focusing on the game,” said Chikaola.
Chikaola added that despite their defeat on Wednesday they noticed some improvements on the team.
“We are getting there because what we have tried last time was to play starting from the back and for this last game we will play our traditional way, the back four stays.
“So we are trying all the systems to see which one works, we are getting there, I think,” said Chikaola.
Zimbabwe will battle it out against Botswana in the first round of the African Women Championship qualifiers over the weekend of
February 14 to 16 in Gaborone while Egypt clash with Tunisia.
The return leg will be played two weeks later.
If Zimbabwe beat Botswana they will meet the winner between Zambia and Tanzania in the last qualifying round to be played between May and June.
The Championships are scheduled for Namibia in October.
Online Reporter