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THE Mighty Warriors’ doomed campaign at the 2016 African Women Championships in Cameroon was a monumental step backwards for a team that appeared to be moving in the right direction by charming this nation through qualification for their maiden Olympic Games’ show in Brazil last year.

We all expected the Mighty Warriors to, at least, play in the semi-finals of Africa’s most prestigious women’s football tournament in Cameroon while the coach even hinted her charges could go all the way and make it to the final.

There was reason for optimism.

After all, the Mighty Warriors showed they were one of the best teams on the continent when they made it to Brazil, the first national football team from this country to scale those dizzy heights in a remarkable success story that was even hailed by the world football governing body.

That the Mighty Warriors were one of just two national teams from this continent to make it to the Olympic Games in Brazil provided confirmation that our team had come of age and could stand their ground against the best national sides, not only from the continent, but also from around the world.

While they lost all their matches in Brazil, which was rather predictable given this was their maiden appearance at this high level of football, the Mighty Warriors were not a disgrace, as some pessimists had predicted, as they gave as much as they got in all the three matches they played against the best sides in the world.

That they even scored, in all the three games they played, was very refreshing and gave us hope that, given more time and experience, our Mighty Warriors would, in future competitions, even beat the world’s best football nations.

But, just when we thought we were on the right track to challenge the best football nations in the world, the Mighty Warriors received a reality check in Cameroon when they finished bottom of their group, after losing all their three matches, including a loss against continental lightweights, Egypt.

Coach Shadreck Mlauzi’s team also failed to even score, in any of the matches they played, in what represented a step backwards for a team which scored in all their three Olympic Games’ group matches against superior opponents in Brazil.

There is no doubt the Mighty Warriors were victims of poor preparations, playing just two friendly internationals against Egypt and South Africa, and our team paid dearly for that by losing all their three matches in Cameroon.

Yes, ZIFA should have done better but we have always said our national teams are our sporting ambassadors and, therefore, rather than leave everything in the hands of the national football body, when it comes to preparing them for such major tournaments, we have to do more, as a nation, to find other revenue streams to foot the preparations.

It’s an open secret that ZIFA have serious financial challenges and cannot always have the resources to bankroll the preparations for our national teams and, on the occasions when these teams qualify for major tournaments, it should become a national project with everyone in the country playing their part to ensure our teams are fully prepared to take on the best opposition they will face at such finals.

The fact that we saw a number of companies running around at the very last minute, just a week before the Mighty Warriors left for Gabon, to pool resources to try and help the team, was in itself an acknowledgement that we had failed our sporting ambassadors when we had a chance to do better to equip them to challenge the best on the continent.

In just a few weeks’ time, our Warriors will plunge into battle at the 2017 Nations Cup finals in Gabon, their first appearance at the showcase in 10 years.

We have an exciting group of players, led by Knowledge Musona, Khama Billiat and Costa Nhamoinesu, which won their group with a game to spare, for the first time in our history in the AFCON qualifiers, and who are making waves in South Africa, Belgium and the Czech Republic.

The fans expect this group to do very well in Cameroon but, even though we have the talented individuals, there are fears our Warriors, just like our Mighty Warriors before them, will not realise their potential should we not all come together and ensure we pool resources to ensure they have the best possible preparations for their Gabon adventure.

We must have picked some lessons from the Mighty Warriors’ failure in Cameroon that, if we leave everything to be sorted out by ZIFA who, themselves are struggling to deal with a huge debt, will be suicidal and another chance for us to shine on the big stage would be lost, not because we can’t do it, but we would not have prepared adequately for the adventure.

To their credit, ZIFA have found a number of opponents, including Cameroon, to help us in our preparations but there is need for the country to come together, with companies pooling their resources, to ensure the Warriors shine in Gabon.