The Mighty Warriors welcome the Super Falcons of Nigeria at Rufaro Stadium on Sunday in an epic battle neither team is prepared to lose.
With the ticket to participate at the African Women Championships finals in Equatorial Guinea later this year at stake, both teams are leaving no stone unturned ahead of the match.
In addition to calling up all their foreign-based players for the final qualifying tie, the two teams yesterday promised their players some extra incentives for a win.
Women football boss Mavis Gumbo revealed the Mighty Warriors will get some extra incentives if they can upset Africa’s number one ranked team. At the same time, the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) was also making similar pronouncements to their players.
Said Gumbo: “We are working on something to motivate our players. This is one match we need to win at all cost. We are speaking to companies and some individuals to help us in this cause. I’m still appealing for more companies to come on board and help the girl child. We need to win convincingly at home so that it will be easy for us when we go for the reverse fixture, hence our plan to give the girls these incentives.”
In Abuja yesterday, NFF acting secretary-general Barrister Musa Amadu said his association has resolved to review upwards allowances for the Super Falcons to match those that are given to their male counterparts, the Super Eagles. “If you check their records comparatively with the Super Eagles, they have done this country proud, so they need motivation. We need to encourage the women to deliver the goods and as such we have decided to enhance their financial package. The allowance would no longer be a poor comparison to what the Super Eagles earn,” said Amadu.
Zimbabwe has called up for camp their only foreign-based player, Sweden-based defender Ruvimbo Mutyavaviri, who joined her teammates yesterday. On the other hand, Super Falcons coach Kadiri Ikhana this week named a 21-member team for the match which has three foreign- based players.
The three are reigning African Footballer of the Year Perpertua Nkwocha and Rita Chikwelu, who are based in Sweden and defender Onome Obi, who plies her trade in Turkey. Ikhana has also included three players from the Under-20 team that beat the Young Mighty Warriors in the World Cup qualifiers earlier this year.
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Esther Sunday who scored three goals in the 6-0 aggregate win over Zimbabwe, Desire Oparanozie, who also scored a goal in the tie and the team captain Gloria Ofuegbu, will be part of the squad for Harare.
The Super Falcons delegation is expected to fly in this afternoon.
