NATIONAL senior women football team coach Rosemary Mugadza has been forced to make yet another change to her squad for the upcoming All-Africa Games reverse fixture against Ghana next week.
BY HENRY MHARA
Defensive midfielder Talent Mandaza has been called up to replace defender Melody Musasa who did not report for camp when the rest of the players regrouped at the weekend.
Mugadza, who called up 25 players for camp for this encounter, said Musasa had been excused for this match because of illness. Mandaza, one of the senior players, was overlooked for the first leg match in Accra which the Mighty Warriors lost 2-1.
This is the second alteration Mugadza has been forced to make having also dropped striker Rufaro Machingura also because of an illness. The unpredictable Machingura has been replaced by Hwange Ladies striker Reliance Maphosa.
“Mandaza joined up yesterday (on Tuesday). She is one of the senior players and I don’t think she will have any problems in fitting into the team,” Mugadza said.
“All the players are in now and preparations for the match are going on well. We lost the match, but there are many positives we got from the match and we are very hopeful that we will qualify. We played very well in the last 30 minutes of the match and I believe if we can carry on with that performance then we will qualify,” she added.
The match had been initially advertised for this weekend, but information on the Caf website shows it would be played next weekend. A 1-0 win or at least a two-goal margin victory would see the Mighty Warriors progress to the September games to be hosted by Congo Brazzaville.
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Meanwhile, the team’s assistant coach Mebelo Njekwa is yet to report for camp. Mugadza and goalkeepers’ coach Matsika Ndega are have been taking the squad through their paces.
Zifa communications manager Xolisani Gwesela yesterday said Njekwa, who is also the Hwange assistant coach, would only join camp on Monday after his team’s league match.
The Mighty Warriors will go into the match on the back of a drop on the Coca-Cola Fifa rankings, slipping a place down to further drift away from the Top 10 in Caf standings.
In the rankings that have been released by the world football governing body Fifa, the Mighty Warriors have fallen down to 13th position in Africa and 98 in the world.
Their opponents Ghana are ranked second in Africa and 52 in the world.
The last time the rankings were released on December 19 last year, the Mighty Warriors was ranked the 12th best team in Africa and 95 in the world.
Their latest drop could have been caused by the defeat to the Black Queens.
The Mighty Warriors’ best ranking was a ninth place in Africa and 82 in the world, achieved on December 13.
