The Mighty Warriors friendly match against South Africa set for Thursday has been moved from Barbourfields to the National Sports Stadium.
BY HENRY MHARA
Zifa communications manager Xolisani Gwesela said the move was necessitated after encountering some logistical problems in hosting the match in Bulawayo.
The match, is Zimbabwe’s first meaningful preparation for the African Women Cup of Nations (Awcon) tournament which begins on Saturday next week.
Interestingly, the neighbouring countries are in the same group at the Awcon finals and will meet each other in their opening Group A match at the Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo in Yaoundé, Cameroon, on November 19.
Mighty Warriors coach Shadreck Mlauzi said it was not ideal to play a warm-up match with a team they were going to face at the finals, but they accepted the situation.
Zimbabwe, last month, played a hastily arranged friendly match against Egypt, another team in Group A, and won 2-1. Hosts Cameroon complete the list of teams in Group A.
Mighty Warriors’ preparations for the finals have been far from ideal, if not chaotic.
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The squad only began camping on Thursday last week after the intervention of a Mighty Warriors fundraising committee, initiated by Sports and Recreation minister Makhosini Hlongwane.
The committee, led by Old Mutual marketing executive, Lillian Mbayiwa, hosted a fundraising dinner last week to mobilise resources for the team. The committee which said the dinner was successful, have set themselves a target of raising $300 000 towards the team’s preps, airfares to Cameroon and player allowances.
Another initiative by the committee, which is set to be launched today, would see them run a nationwide SMS promotion, entitled #GirlPowerZW, and accessible on all the national mobile networks.
Subscribers would be invited to support the Mighty Warriors by purchasing a digital raffle ticket, as a $0,50 deduction from their current airtime balance and in return, participants would stand a chance to win a new car, and air tickets to accompany the team to Cameroon.
