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Rudo Neshamba

Grace Chingoma Harare Bureau
THE Mighty Warriors will be out to maintain their dominance over Tanzania when they meet in the Africa Women Cup of Nations qualifier at Azam Complex in Dar-es-Salaam this afternoon.

The match kicks off 3pm Zimbabwean time.

The Mighty Warriors arrived in Dar-es-Salaam yesterday in two batches.

Zimbabwe have dominated the two matches against Tanzania, a semi-final tie in the 2011 Cosafa Women’s Championship at Rufaro Stadium in Harare which the Mighty Warriors won and a 4-1 victory in Dar-es-Salaam in an international friendly.

Coach Shadreck Mlauzi and his team face a tougher opponent this time with the winner set to face either Zambia or Namibia in the last qualifying round.

Today’s game will be the first competitive tie for the Mighty Warriors since the team booked a ticket to the Olympics Games to Brazil last August.

The Mighty Warriors will, once again, rely on poster girl Rudo Neshamba, Erina Jeke, veteran midfielder Marjoury Nyaumwe, hardworking skipper Felistas Muzongondi and Rejoice Kamvumvuti.

Defensive midfielder Emmaculate Msipa, who missed the Cameroon match with an injury, is also back in the team’s fold.

Vice captain Nobuhle Majika, Eunice Chibanda, Lynette Mutokuto and Sheila Makoto are likely to form the back four with seasoned goalkeeper Chido Dzingirai guarding the posts.

Mighty Warriors assistant coach Sithethelelwe “Kwinji 15” Sibanda said they were confident they will overcome Tanzania.

“We’re expecting a good result because our objective is to make it to the finals of the African Women Cup in Cameroon.

“So it begins with us winning the game against Tanzania, so we’re expecting a good result.

“We’re going to throw everything at them so that we come out with a good result from Tanzania.

“I must say they were off-season, yes, and I must say in terms of the physcial condition, of course, we’re still not yet up there.

“But they (players) have improved drastically because we tried to work on their strength levels,” Sibanda said.