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Zimbabwe’s senior women football team, the Mighty Warriors, continued with their success story when they secured a ticket for participation at yet another major tournament this year.
Following a 2016 Olympic Games fruitful campaign, the team followed it up with another impressive outing as they qualified for the African Women Cup of Nations when they beat northern neighbour Zambia’s Shepolopolo in convincing style over the two legs to clinch a 4-3 aggregate.
If qualifying for the Olympic Games, to be hosted by Brazil from August 5-21, was a mighty feat, then earning a ticket to the women’s Afcon, set for Cameroon from November 19 to December 3, was a warrior-like act by our ladies.
Full credit to the Mighty Warriors coach, Shadreck Mlauzi, his technical staff, the whole team and everyone involved behind the scenes and they deserve the kudos for that such that Gamechanger, as surely does the rest of Zimbabweans, doffs his hat to the ladies for another job well-done. Long may the success in similar endeavours continue.
Earning a lot of admirers, the team also received the plaudits of Sport and Recreation Minister Makhosini Hlongwane, who aptly described the ladies’ accomplishment in glowing terms: “This victory is not just a victory for sport in general and football in particular, but more importantly it is a victory for every Zimbabwean woman as it comes hardly a month after Zimbabwe joined the rest of the world in celebrating International Women’s Day.”
While the Rio de Janeiro Games is the team’s first cut, their appearance in Yaoundé will be their fourth such similar excursion – and, thus, record-extending – as they have been to three previous editions in succession, the 2000, 2002 and 2004 finals. The team had its best run at the women’s Afcon during their inaugural campaign in 2000 in South Africa where they finished fourth.
What made dumping Shepolopolo out sweeter for the Mighty Warriors is that it exerted a measure of revenge for Zimbabwe after suffering elimination at the hands of Zambia at the final hurdle of the 2014 qualifiers.
And what is sweetest about their latest triumph is that our women’s team are back at the biennial tournament, now in its 12th edition, and will be counted as one of the best football-playing nations on the continent since they are among the eight to participate at this year’s competition.
They join, among other countries, hosts Cameroon, who are making their 11th appearance, and have been runners-up in 1991, 2004 and 2014, and Equatorial Guinea, who are making their fourth appearance and have been champions in 2008 and 2012.
For representing us so well on the national front, the Mighty Warriors have flown the country’s flag up higher as glory-getters and it now presents the Warriors with a challenge to emulate their female counterparts. The bar has been set and it’s now for Callisto Pasuwa’s men to follow suit.
CR7’s Uefa juggernaut continues
Following his hat-trick, which helped Real Madrid overturn a 2-0 first leg deficit against Wolfsburg and secure them a semi-finals spot in the Uefa Champions League, Cristiano Ronaldo set another personal milestone:
CR7 now has the most (5) hat-tricks in the history of the completion, tied with Messi (5) and ahead of Mario Gomez (3) Filippo Inzaghi (3) and Luiz Adriano, (3). He is leading all-time UCL goal-scorer with 93 strikes after Messi (83), Raul (71), Ruud van Nistelroy (56) and Thiery Henry (50).The forward is the first player in all the competition’s history to score three hat-tricks in a single season. He also becomes the first player to score 15 or more goals in different campaigns of the competition
The Portuguese star has now scored 78 goals in his last 72 UCL appearances. Equalling Alessandro Del Piero’s record, he has now scored the most free-kick goals (11) in the completion’s history
Foxes secure Europe berth
English Premier League leaders Leicester City’s fairytale run continued, as they secured a first-ever Uefa Champions League spot following their 2-0 over relegation-troubled Sunderland. The win took their points tally to 72, with six games left before the seasons ends and their points haul becomes unassailable for Manchester United, who sit sixth on the log with 53 points, although they have played a game less.
And their coach Claudio Ranieri insists that they are a team simply enjoying each games as it comes, waiting to see where it would take them come May.
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Online Reporter