Mighty Warriors win in Tanzania

By Ellina Mhlanga

Tanzania 1 – 2 Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s Mighty Warriors took a giant step towards their qualification for the Africa Women Cup of Nations when they secured a crucial away victory over Tanzania at Azam Complex in Dar-es-Salaam yesterday.

A brace by striker, Erina Jeke, was all the Mighty Warriors needed to win the first leg of the first round qualifiers.

Zimbabwe turned on the show to come from behind after Tanzania took the lead in the 18th minute through Omary Mwanahamis. However, Tanzania’s joy was short-lived as Jeke levelled the score for Zimbabwe two minutes later. The two teams went into the break tied 1-1.

Three minutes into the second half, Jeke returned to haunt the hosts and was on target again for Zimbabwe to win the match which was a perfect start they needed in the first leg of the opening round.

The return leg will be played in two weeks time in Harare and, with a victory in their hands, the Mighty Warriors will go into the match with an upper hand over Tanzania.

This is also a boost for the team that last played together last year in October against Cameroon during the Olympic Games qualifiers in which they overpowered the West African country to book their place at this year’s Games.

The Shadreck Mlauzi-coached side are hoping to continue with their good run as they hope to qualify for another major competition this year. Mlauzi and his technical team, have already made clear their intentions to qualify for the continental showpiece in Yaoundé, Cameroon later this year.

The winner between Zimbabwe and Tanzania will meet either Zambia or Namibia in the last and final round of qualification in April. Zambia are hosting Namibia tomorrow at Nkoloma Stadium.

Seven countries from these qualifiers will join the hosts Cameroon, from November 19 to December 3, for the finals. Zimbabwe first took part in the competition, formerly known as the Africa Women Championships held in South Africa in 2000.

They went on to compete in the 2002 and 2004 editions staged in Nigeria and South Africa. Their best performance was in 2000 when they finished fourth while in 2002 and 2004 they were eliminated in the group stages.

And since then they have not qualified for the competition. In the last edition held in Windhoek, Namibia in 2014, Zimbabwe were eliminated by Zambia in the last qualifying round. The team is expected back in the country early today.

Yesterday, Zifa president Philip Chiyangwa congratulated the Mighty Warriors for their superb victory in Tanzania and said the country’s football train of success was now on full throttle.

“I would like to congratulate our senior national women team for their heroic efforts to win in Tanzania which goes to show that they’ve certainly become a force to reckon with on the continent and, as Zifa and Zimbabwe, we’re very proud of their gallant efforts,” said Chiyangwa.

“Our mission is to ensure that we produce teams that can serve this country with distinction and make all of us feel very proud to be called Zimbabweans and the mighty Warriors are a key member of those teams that fly our national flag in international football tournaments.

“There are no easy games in football these days and you’ve to fight very hard to win every match that you play and the team, and its technical side, have done us very proud and we’re confident they’ll finish the job when they come home and they need the support of every Zimbabwean.

“They’re proving that our qualification for the Olympic Games in Rio was not a fluke and when people talk about women football in Africa today, they can’t leave out our country’s name and that’s what sport is all about and we say thank you to everyone who was involved in this mission.”

Chiyangwa also thanked Zifa partner, Wicknell Chivayo, for his investment into the Mighty Warriors saying it was making a difference to the team. ”When you’ve a team that has a happy leader, I mean a very happy coach, happy with his working conditions, then that team can go very far and we’re indebted to our sponsor, Wicknell Chivayo, for what he’s doing to improve the working conditions of our national team coaches,” said Chiyangwa.

“The coach sets the tone for the team and now we’ve a coach who knows that we appreciate what he’s doing for this nation, someone that we handed a brand new car to use, and we want to thank Chivayo for being there for his country and showing others that, if we come together and unite for the cause of our nation, nothing is impossible.

“This is just the start and we know the fans want to see good results from the various national assignments and we can assure them that we won’t fail them because we didn’t come into these posts for us to fail our country.

“This is a crucial month, with the Warriors also involved in key assignments, and the Mighty Warriors have set the right tone and we’re very happy that they’ve shown that we’re, indeed, a team to reckon with and they should come home now and finish the job.”