Mighty Warriors begin Cosafa preps

THE Mighty Warriors kick-started their preparations for next month’s Cosafa Women’s Championship yesterday at Gateway with coach Sithethelelwe Sibanda happy with the response from her charges as all the 30 players reported for camp.

Most of the players got into camp on Sunday at the Zifa Village while Danai Bhobho joined the rest of the squad yesterday to complete the 30-member squad.

The tournament will be in Bulawayo from September 13 to 24.

The senior women's side last played together in a competitive game during the Africa Women Cup of Nations last November in Cameroon.

And they wasted no time as they got down to serious business yesterday at Gateway.

“I would say it was great response from the players on the first day, it’s good to experience that. We are good as a team if we start off as a team, so I will say it’s a good start.

“Basically, really the first week of the camp is integrated training. What we want to is to really get everyone to the same level as far as fitness is concerned before we even start on the technical side.

“So it will be just integrated training to take the fitness level to the maximum. Some have been playing so it means we are going to do a lot of integrated training, it will be conditioning the players,'' said Sibanda.

This year’s competition will see Cosafa countries — Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe as well as East African guest nation Kenya — battling it out for the top honours in Bulawayo.

Zimbabwe go into the tournament as the title holders from 2011 when the tournament was last held.

Sibanda announced a 30-member squad last week with several seasoned players like goalkeeper Chido Dzingirai, Nobuhle Majika, Rutendo Makore and Talent Mandaza as well as some new faces such as Susan Nyama, Rutendo Madongorere and Fortunate Nyoka in the team.

“I believe the players that have been there have done well and will continue doing well. And the new players will give their best. Basically, as the Mighty Warriors, we want to achieve the best.

“A tournament is a marathon, you have to work on different tactical issues, if plan A fails you try plan B. All the teams are going to come with different tactical issues and so we have to be prepared,” Sibanda said.

The team will be in camp until the tournament starts on September 13.