National Under-20 women soccer team, the Young Mighty Warriors, won a silver medal at the just-ended Cosafa Zone VI Youth Games in Zambia, to surrender the title they had kept for four years.
Report By HENRY MHARA SPORTS REPORTER
The Langton Giwa-coached side, who were the defending champions going into the tournament, were beaten 2-0 by the hosts in the final match played at the Nkoloma Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Zimbabwe played Zambia in the round-robin stage, winning the match 2-1, but the Mighty Warriors could not hold their nerves against the hungrier Shepolopolo Queens who had a strong backing from a packed stadium.
The win was Zambia’s first ever success in women football.
Zimbabwe, however, got some consolation after three of their stars were named in the tournament’s best eleven squad. Captain Eunice Chibanda, who is a regular in the senior national women’s football team, Daisy Kaitano and Tafadzwa Tsunguro were voted among the tournament’s luminaries. In qualifying for the finals, the Young Mighty Warriors beat Namibia 2-0 and Zambia 2-1 before losing 5-0 to South Africa in a dead rubber last match in the round-robin stage.
Zimbabwe met Namibia again in the semis, which they easily beat 2-0.
Meanwhile, Botswana senior national women football team were expected to fly into the country yesterday afternoon ahead of the Unity Day Cup on Saturday. Zimbabwe are the current holders after beating South Africa 3-0 in last year’s edition.
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The Saturday match will be the third time the two teams clash this year after the neighbours met in the African Women Championships qualifiers early this year with Rosemary Mugadza-coached side winning tie 3-1 on aggregate.
