Mighty Warriors vice-captain Onai Chingawo has rallied her troops to beat the vastly improving Angola side when the two teams clash in the Zone VI All-Africa Games first round, first leg football qualifier in Dunda, some 400km out of capital Luanda, on Sunday afternoon.
Kickoff is at 1530hrs.
The team is expected to leave the country at 1845hrs today aboard South African Airways to Johannesburg, connecting with Angolan Airways five hours later to arrive in Luanda around midnight.
They will then proceed to Dunda on the same flight. The Mighty Warriors qualified for the first round after seeing off Zambia 4-1 on aggregate in the preliminary round stages.
Zimbabwe went to Zambia carrying a slim 1-0 victory but turned on a dominant show to beat the Young Chipolopolo Queens 3-1 in their own backyard and Chingawo wants the team to produce similar play when they engage Angola on Sunday.
The Mighty Warriors goalkeeper, who produced an unforgettable perfomance against Zambia including saving a penalty, reckons that a convincing away win for her troops will naturally kill off the Angolans when they turn out in Harare in two weeks for the reverse fixture.
“’We are going there with only one thing in mind, to win the game,” said a confident Chingawo on Wednesday.
“A convincing away win will make the job easier for us when they come here. We will do our best as a team and try to score as many goals as possible,” added the Aces Youth Academy player.
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She admitted that their opponents on Sunday had been improving in recent years, as shown by their upsurge in the latest Fifa/Coca-Cola Women World rankings released last month.
Angola are ranked at position 14 in Africa and 104 in the world while the Mighty Warriors are one position up, at 13, and 100 in the world.
“They (Angola) are an experienced team, they have been improving a lot in recent times, but that will not stop us from beating them. The good thing is that we will be playing the first game away from home and the team always plays bettter when we are away so I just hope that we will continue with our good form,” said the goalkeeper.
Meanwhile, Angola have also upped their preparations for the match and last Friday, the team played a friendly against juvenile side FC Prenda, but suffered a 5-3 hammering.
However, despite the heavy defeat, assistant coach Simao Jose was happy with his team’s performance saying they could rectify those that defensive failures.
A victory over Angola in the two-legged fixture would see the Mighty Warriors securing a berth at the All Africa Games set for Mozambique in September.
Squad
Goalkeepers: O Chingawo, C Dzingirai.
Defenders: E Chibanda, R Mutyavaviri, L Masase, P Mujuru, N Madzika.
Midfielders: T Mairosi, M Nyaumwe, N Ndlovu, N Moyo (captain), E Msipa, T Mandaza, V Bepete.
Strikers: E Jeke, K Bhasopo, R Machingura, R Neshamba.
