Gone are the days when the Zimbabwe women’s football team would be deemed the punching bag of continental football! Nigeria are well aware of the rising status in their opponents in both the Caf African Women Championships and the Fifa Under-20 Women’s World Cup.
Zimbabwe’s Young Mighty Warriors clash with Nigeria’s Falconets in the Fifa U-20 World Cup second round, first leg tie away at the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abeokuta in three weeks while the seniors, the Mighty Warriors, will welcome the Super Falcons in Harare for the Women Championships first round, first leg on the last weekend of May. The reverse fixtures will be played two weeks later. It looks like the 7-0 aggregate win by the Young Mighty Warriors over Mozambique in the preceding U-20 qualifier has sent some shockwaves across the continent.
So scared are continental powerhouse Nigeria they are reportedly planning to dispatch spies to Harare to snoop on Zimbabwe teams as well as collecting video footage ahead of the clashes.
A Nigerian national newspaper, The Nation has reported the Nigerian Football Federation are sending an emissary to Zimbabwe to assess the depth of local teams.
“A top official of the Nigeria U-20 Women’s national team, the Falconets, has admitted to NationSport that the technical crew only have a sketchy hint on their 2012 Fifa U-20 World Cup qualifying second round opponent Zimbabwe,” reported The Nation. “In a chat with NationSport the source informed that the technical crew had begun a manhunt to search for relevant materials and video tapes of the two legs between Mozambique and Zimbabwe. An official is likely to leave for Harare so as to ascertain the true depth of the opponents as the March 31 date slated for the first leg draws near.
The source also said that the Technical Sub-Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation has also been alerted of the development with a firm response from the Barrister Chris Green-led committee that necessary steps would be taken to ensure that the Falconets win well in Abeokuta before the return leg in Harare,” added the daily newspaper.
All was not well in the Falconets’ nest with reports stating three players had been booted out of camp because they were over-aged. The Falconets coach Edwin Okon confirmed the development. There was still more controversy in the Nigerian camp over the eligibility of other seven players whose ages had been questioned by the media.
That confusion in the opposition camp could be good news for the Young Mighty Warriors camped in Hwange in preparation of the crunch tie. The team chose Matabeleland North so they could familiarise themselves with the hot and humid conditions expected in the West African nation.
