Young Mighty Warriors upbeat

The Zimbabwe Under-20 women’s soccer team takes on the hosts tomorrow evening at the MKO Abiola Stadium at 5pm Zimbabwean time.
The team, which arrived in this town, which is about two hours drive from Lagos, have other factors on their mind such as a budget hotel in which they have been booked into.
The hotel doesn’t even have a single star.
The team also realised yesterday that there is a night club adjacent to their hotel and music will be blasting out of the night sport during the night, which could disturb the players’ focus.
The team was warned by Zifa president, Cuthbert Dube, that they should expect hostile reception from the West Africans.
The Zimbabweans brought their own mealie-meal, potatoes, vegetables, Mazoe and baked beans and have been preparing their meals since they arrived here around midnight on Wednesday.
Aces defender, Chibanda, said her charges were ready for the showdown and were intimidated by the fact that they would be playing against an African powerhouse.
After loosening up yesterday morning on the artificial pitch where they would be playing tomorrow, Chibanda said they could hardly wait for the big game.
“The weather conditions have been our biggest challenge since arriving here,” said the team captain.
“We trained in the morning (yesterday) and we could really feel it. But we hope by Saturday we should be managing.
“We are focused and when we face them we will not look at their achievements and in our mind it would be like we are playing Mozambique.
“They are a women’s team and football is the same and we will match them blow for blow.
“We need to win this match because if we lose we will have pressure at home.”
Striker Rutendo “Madzimai” Makore, who scored a hat-trick as Zimbabwe destroyed Mozambique 3-0 in their backyard to set up a clash with Nigeria in the second round of the qualifiers on a 7-0 aggregate victory, said the tide will change and the Young Mighty Warriors will prevail over the hosts.
“It would be my second time to play against them after I played in the 2010 qualifiers but this time I just have a good feeling and I am not even intimidated at the prospects of playing Nigeria.
“There is a good team spirit and a belief that we can do it.
“We are used to the artificial turf at Rufaro and the turf is producing the same heat just like our pitch and I don’t think we should struggle much with that.
“But the weather conditions are really unfriendly and even though we trained in Hwange, it is really different from here,” said Makore.
Young Mighty Warriors midfielder Maggie Moyo said they will try to play their normal game.
“It is my first time travelling to a place like this and we have been told before that it would be hot and camped in Hwange but you can’t compare this with Hwange.
“But with more sessions before Match Day we should adjust a bit,” said the New Orleans defender.
The team’s last afternoon training session was disrupted with rains and strong winds which pounded this city.
By the time the rains stopped, time was up for the visitors’ time and the Falconets were also waiting to train at the match venue.
Today, the Young Mighty Warriors will train in the afternoon and technical advisor, Maxwell Takaendesa Jongwe, said the team should come to the party tomorrow.
“It is quite humid but I think the team will last the distance. We had a recovery session in the morning and felt the heat.
“When you get to a humid place it affects you much more in the first 20 minutes but thereafter a player who is conditioned should be able to adjust.
“The artificial turf is slightly different from ours as this has more rubbles and the bounce is a little bit low which makes it a slow pitch.
“The pressure is more on them as they are the World Cup medalists and have to maintain such a standard while we have nothing to lose.
“We will not let some poor mind games and Stone Age tactics sway our focus and we are ready for the encounter,” said Jongwe.