adminIt has been a winding, fairytale and fruitful journey for the Zimbabwe senior women’s soccer team but the honeymoon is over and it is time for the youthful side to stand up and be counted among the big teams in Africa.
After grinding out a victory over Botswana in a performance that left many fans unconvinced, the Mighty Warriors will now have to show that they have something in reserve.
The feeling among many is that the performance on Sunday will not cut it against their next opponents.
The big bad character in their fairytale comes in the shape of the Super Falcons.
The Mighty Warriors are yet to beat the Super Falcons since the turn of the millennium and have lost heavily to the Super Falcons, not once, but football is evolving and there are no longer big or small teams.
The Mighty Warriors have have played 17 international matches since returning to competitive action in October 2010 following the ushering in of a new executive in March of the same year.
And the team has lost only four times. A hastily assembled team regrouping for the first time after a three-year break was invited to South Africa and lost 4-0 to Banyana Banyana in Johannesburg. The match was a test run for South Africa who were hosting the 2010 African Women Championships which again was won by Nigeria.
Three months later the Mighty Warriors were on the receiving end against South Africa again as they lost 3-0 to Banyana Banyana.
The Mighty Warriors then went on to win nine matches, winning the All-Africa Games qualifiers against Zambia (4-1 aggregate) and Angola (3-1 aggregate). The team went on to lift the Cosafa Championships in July in that stormy final where they ended South Africa’s dominance and won 1-0.
Before that they had crushed Lesotho 4-0, Malawi 8-2 and Mozambique 3-0 before setting up a tough semi-final clash with East African giants Tanzania who had been invited as special guests. The Mighty Warriors, reduced to 10 players, braved to a goalless draw. Goalkeeper and captain Onai Chingawo was the hero as she saved two Twiga Stars’ penalties to storm into the final.
The Mighty Warriors had announced their return on the local football scene and, in a landmark development, went to Germany for an intensive training camp in August as they prepared for the All-Africa Games in Maputo in September.
With expectations high the Mighty Warriors failed to rise to the occasion in Maputo and were humiliated 1-4 by a South Africa development side. The Banyana Banyana side they had beaten three months before was not at the tournament as they were playing
Ethiopia in the London 2012 Olympic qualifiers which they eventually won to book a ticket, together with Cameroon, as the African representatives at the Summer Games.
Zimbabwe failed to win a single match in Maputo, losing 1-2 to Ghana and drawing 2-2 with Tanzania to crash out of the tournament. The Mighty Warriors were then invited to Egypt for the Arab Invitational Cup. They managed a 2-2 draw against the Pharaohs and beat Tunisia 1-0.
The Mighty Warriors boosted their status against the Southern Region giants Banyana Banyana when they beat them 3-0 last December in the second edition of the Unity Cup giving the South African gaffer a lot of homework ahead of the Summer Games which start in London on 27 July.
The Mighty Warriors then began the road to Equatorial Guinea last month and got a crucial away victory in Gaborone, beating the Zebras 1-0 before qualifying for the last round on Sunday when they laboured to a 2-1 victory against Botswana.
It has been a journey full of hard work and commitemnt from the Women’s League executive, coaches and the corporate world.
And evidently the current crop of the Mighty Warriors, in their short journey of less than a year and half, have never met an opponent of Nigeria’s calibre. The Mighty Warrriors have the bragging rights over Banyana Banyana twice but South Africa are still miles below the class of Super Falcons and Equatorial Guinea who have represented Africa at the World Cup finals.
But the rising Mighty Warriors are on a mission and would not be lambs to the slaughter when they host the record champions in the first leg at Rufaro on 27 May.
Coach Rosemary Mugadza said, after the weekend’s match, her charges had not performed well but will raise the bar against competitive sides.
“When we play good teams we raise our game and do very well. The most important thing is we have qualified for the next round,” said Mugadza.
Online Reporter