ZIMBABWE . . . . . . . . . . . .(0) 0 SOUTH AFRICA . . . . . . . . . .(1) 3
Zimbabwe’s ill-prepared Mighty Warriors put up a disjointed performance in their first Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (Awcon) preparatory match letting in three goals and firing blanks against a more fluent, fitter and faster South African side at the National Sports Stadium yesterday.
BY MUNYARADZI MADZOKERE
The defeat comes a week before the Africa women football championships begin in Cameroon, barely enough time for Zimbabwe to work on their shortcomings.
Interestingly, the chastening experience came against a team that the Mighty Warriors are pitted against in Group A at the Awcon finals.
Thembi Kgatlana scored a goal in each half and substitute Astria Boks added the other to ensure the South Africans got a morale-boosting win.
Mighty Warriors coach Shadreck Mlauzi conceded that the friendly match came too soon for the girls.
“We were not ready for this contest because of the short time we have been working together as a team,” he said.
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“The fact that we had some game time is the only positive I saw because we were never really in the match today.
“Tactically, we were not on point, we were rather too loose in our tactical organisation and our attacks were easily broken down by the defensive discipline of our opponents. These are areas we have to work on and it leaves us so much to do in a very short space of time,” Mlauzi added.
He said the result was made worse because they gave a lot of untried players a run in the starting line-up and that they tried to employ different tactics from the usual ones.
A comedy of errors characterised the clearly out-of-shape Mighty Warriors’ first half performance.
It didn’t take long for them to gift the visitors the lead.
South Africa justified early possession grabbing the opener through Kgatlana.
After initially failing to beat Chido Dzingirai in a one-on-one situation, an attempted clearance saw the ball cannon off defender Patience Mujuru and bounce gratefully for the striker, who rifled home from inside the box.
Zimbabwe chased shadows in the first half, which concluded with Dzingirai failing to make a routine catch and having to scramble to keep the ball from crossing the line.
Despite a positive start from Zimbabwe, who made four changes at the break, South Africa doubled the lead seven minutes after the restart.
Kgathlana outpaced Mujuru to slot the ball home from an angle for her second of the game.
Substitute Rutendo Makore was the first to test South Africa goalkeeper Andile Dlamini with a stinging shot from the edge of the box.
Dlamini could only parry the effort back into play before the defence cleared their lines.
Second-half substitute Boks scored the third goal for the visitors, rising the highest to nod home Linda Mothlalo’s corner kick after 69 minutes.
The third killed off the match as a contest and a number of forays could not yield a facesaver for the hosts. Visitors’ coach Desire Ellis refused to read much into the game.
“This result means nothing really. We have only been in training for two weeks and there is still a lot to be done before we can be ready to compete at the Africa championships,” she said.
Teams:
Zimbabwe: C Dzingirai, T Mandaza, N Ncube, R Mutyavaviri (S Makoto), P Mujuru, A Bhamu (E Msipa), F Muzongondi, M Chirandu (E Chibanda), B Kabwe (S Moyo), N Majika, M Mafuruse (R Makore)
South Africa: A Dlamini, J van Wyk (N Ntsibande), N Vilakazi, L Motlhalo, S Ngubane (A Boks), T Kgatlana (A Motau), B Mbane (N Motloli), J Refiloe, L Smeda, N Nyandeni (N Makhabane), O Nogwanya
