Mighty Warriors players, among them chief striker Rudo Neshamba and goalkeeper Chido Dzingirai, are walking wounded ahead of the Cosafa Women’s Championships which begins in the country this weekend.
The tournament, which also includes Lesotho, Botswana, Malawi, South Africa Mozambique and Zambia, will be staged at Rufaro and Gwanzura from July 2 to July 9.
Tanzania have also been invited to take part in the tournament.
Zimbabwe won the right to host the championships following the withdrawal of Reunion and will play their opening match against Lesotho this Friday.
The team’s technical advisor Takaendesa Jongwe said the two players received knocks while playing for their respective teams.
“A number of players currently have minor knocks and the list includes Inline FC striker Neshamba and Dzingirai. However, the knocks are not that serious and I hope the players will have recovered before Saturday.
It is also unfortunate that defender Lillian Masase will not be part of the team as she is currently in Zambia due to work commitments.
“Currently we have 24 players in camp and are going to trim the squad to 20 on Friday. I am confident that the team will do well in the tournament.
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Acting competitions officer Christopher Emmanuel said all the referees are already in the country and the Botswana team is expected in the country today.
“All the referees are in the country and are currently attending a Fifa instructed Women’s Referees’ Course that ends on Friday.
Preparations are going as planned and we expect the participating countries to start arriving in the country tomorrow (today). Botswana hinted that they will be arriving tomorrow (today) with Lesotho coming the following day,” he said.
The Young Warriors, who will be using the Women’s championships as part of their preparations for the All-Africa Games tournament to be hosted by Mozambique will play their opening match against Lesotho at Rufaro Stadium on Saturday before engaging Malawi a day later.
Fixtures Group A: Saturday: Zimbabwe v Lesotho (Rufaro), Mozambique v Malawi (Gwanzura, 1pm) Sunday: Lesotho v Mozambique (Rufaro, 1pm) , Malawi v Zimbabwe (Rufaro, 3:15pm) July 5: Malawi v Lesotho (Rufaro, 3:15pm), Zimbabwe v Mozambique (Gwanzura, 3:15pm) Group B Saturday: South Africa v Zambia (Rufaro, 1pm), Tanzania v Botswana (Gwanzura, 3:15pm) Sunday: Zambia v Tanzania (Gwanzura, 1pm), Botswana v South Africa (Gwanzura, 3:15pm) July 5: South Africa v Tanzania (Gwanzura, 1pm), Botswana v Zambia (Rufaro, 1pm)
