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Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter
THE Mighty Warriors are walking with a spring in their step as they aim to finish off Botswana in an African Women Championships preliminary round second leg tie at Rufaro tomorrow.The players are so confident they will progress to the last qualifying round where they will meet the winner between Zambia and Tanzania.

The team has already sounded warning shots after they beat the Zebras 1-0 in Gaborone a fortnight ago. Yesterday, the senior players, led by captain Felistas “Figo” Muzongondi, said they believe this year Zimbabwe can bounce back at the continental showpiece where they last featured in 2000.

“Even though we won 1-0 in Botswana, we have to make sure that we score in the opening minutes of the game,” said Muzongondi.
“We noticed their strong points as well as their weaknesses but we know it would be a different game. We know they also want to win this game as all the teams have become competitive and want to play at Afcon. I believe we had a good performance as a team considering it was away. And now we can even do better at home. We promise the fans a good game and they should come and support us in numbers.”

The midfielder, who has taken over the leadership from former skipper Onai Chingawo, is confident they stand a better chance to progress than in the 2012 campaign which had African giants Nigeria in their path.

They were booted out in final round by the West Africans.

“There is some light that we might qualify for Afcon compared to two years ago. A lot has changed.  The team now has more experienced players and the opponents we are facing this time are different compared to the last edition where the draw was a bit harsh on us.”

In 2012, Zimbabwe played Bostwana again in the preliminary round but found the going tough against Super Falcons of Eagles.
Veteran midfielder Nokhuthula “Marhoo” Ndlovu said they have to beat Botswana as the next round looks promising against familiar opponents.

“Zambia and Tanzania are teams that we have played a number of times in competitions and friendly matches and we have got some good results.

“We would really want to meet them in the next round. So we are not relaxing this Sunday as we don’t want to spoil things for ourselves. We know Botswana have improved a lot and in the first game they gave us a challenge so we have to fight,” said Ndlovu.

Mighty Warriors vice-captain Melody Musasa, another long serving player in the team, was also confident that it will be Mission Accomplished come Sunday afternoon. We are now ready and waiting for kick off. We have home advantage. We are looking at scoring three goals as their pitch was a bit bumpy for us.

“We are used to playing in front of many people and we will not be affected playing in front of our home crowd. Botswana are good on aerial balls as they have the height so we have to play a passing game,” said Musasa.

Defender Nobuhle Majika, who is expected to thwart the visitors raids, said they were not underrating Botswana and will only celebrate after the game is over.