SENIOR national women’s football team coach Rosemary Mugadza said her side will go out for an outright win when they take on their Uruguayan counterparts in an international friendly match at the Burgueno Stadium in Maldonado today. REPORT BY HENRY MHARA IN MALDONADO, URUGUAY
Kickoff time is 1800hrs local time (10pm Zimbabwe time).
Mugadza yesterday announced her strongest possible squad for the match, the first of three international matches lined up in Maldonado.
“There is nothing much I know about the Uruguay team except for the little information I got on the Internet. They have played in all the qualifiers for international and major competitions except for 2010, although they have not managed to qualify. But that on its own shows how serious they are about women’s football. They will try to impress against us and I think they will give us the challenge we want. We are prepared for the match and I have told my girls to go out there for a win,” Mugadza said.
Uruguay coach Jorge Burgell said women football is still in its development stage. He said they did not get the same recognition that their male counterparts enjoyed.
“For Uruguayans soccer is masculine and there is nothing further from the truth,” he said. “We are trying to use every opportunity to develop our game. This is an international game and we hope to gain a lot of things from the Zimbabwe team,” Burgell added.
The Mighty Warriors will play their second match of the tour against Uruguay Under-20 on Thursday before facing Burgell’s team again on Saturday.
Initially, this was supposed to be a five-nation team tournament, but Paraguay, Chile and Brazil pulled out.
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Unlike their senior team, the Uruguay junior side have played in the World Cup, with their recent participation coming last September in Azerbaijan.
The Mighty Warriors left Harare on Saturday and arrived in the Uruguay capital Montevideo on Sunday night before taking a 120km road trip to the hosting city. Mighty Warriors first IX to face Uruguay O Chingawo, E Chibanda, R Mutyavaviri, D Bhobho, M Musasa, T Mandaza, M Nyaumwe, N Ndlovu, F Muzongondi, R Makore, E Jeke.
