Online Reporter
Veronica Gwaze at Ngoni, Norton
Zimbabwe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0
Uganda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(2) 2
ZIMBABWE’S Young Mighty Warriors now have it all to do in Uganda after a flat first half left them chasing the game in this Women’s World Cup qualifier.
Two early goals from the visitors exposed Zimbabwe’s defensive gaps and forced Lindiwe Ndlovu’s side into a fight they never quite recovered from, despite a much better second-half showing.
The hosts must now win away on Thursday, without conceding, and score at least three to keep their campaign alive.
Coach Lindiwe Ndlovu is backing her side to respond.
“I’m very confident, that we will turn things around in the return fixture. We have seen our weakness, and we will try to work on them because now we have an idea of our opponents that we have and we are ready,” she said.
Uganda set the tone early and never let Zimbabwe settle.
Emmaculate Acen struck first in the 18th minute, bursting through the middle, outpacing the defence and calmly taking the ball past the goalkeeper before finishing.
Zimbabwe had a chance to hit back seven minutes later after working their way into the box with neat passing, but a poor final decision let them down.
That miss proved costly.
Uganda doubled their lead in the 24th minute when Lydia Namaseruka finished off a move from the back, beating Ropafadzo Mushava despite the goalkeeper getting a hand to it.
At 2-0 down, Zimbabwe needed a response and they began to show signs of life.
They pushed higher up the pitch and created openings in the 31st and 34th minutes, but Ugandan goalkeeper Adam Mayimuna Namuwaya stood firm.
By halftime, the damage had already been done.
Zimbabwe came back stronger after the break, controlling possession and asking more questions, but the cutting edge was still missing.
Chiedza Khumalo thought she had pulled one back in the 55th minute after reacting quickest to a rebound, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside.
It summed up Zimbabwe’s afternoon, moments of promise undone at key points.
Uganda coach Sheryl Botes said her side executed a clear plan.
“Zimbabwe had a very good squad, but we identified specific areas we could exploit on, like focusing on key players like the captain (Alicia Chinyoka). We studied your (Zimbabwe) way of play during the COSAFA U-17 tournament last year and worked on that.”
