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AIMING HIGH . . . Sithetheliwe Sibanda wants her Mighty Warriors to seal qualification for the Women’s Nations Cup in Ghana

Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter
MIGHTY Warriors coach Sithetheliwe “Kwinji 15” Sibanda has set her target on qualifying for the 2018 African Women’s Nations Cup and has outlined her programme, which she wants ZIFA to implement in order to achieve the feat.

The Women’s Nations Cup is set for November in Ghana and Sibanda wants her 2017 COSAFA Championships runners-up to be part of that jamboree.

There is also an added incentive of finishing among the top three at that tournament in Ghana as it would guarantee the best trio places at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in France next year.

But Sibanda knows that before she can set her sights on the global showcase, her charges have to qualify for the continental tournament.

Sibanda yesterday said that she has since presented her programme to ZIFA, which she hopes will get charges fine-tuned for the qualifying campaign for the Nations cup.

The Mighty Warriors have not been in action since finishing as runners-up to South Africa in the COSAFA Championships in Bulawayo last September.

In her programme, Sibanda has also asked for some international friendly games she believes could help shake off the rust that has crept in her side.

To compound Sibanda’s woes, the domestic Women’s League has not been competitive following a string of administrative problems that rocked it.

Fortunately for Sibanda, the Confederation of African Football have rescheduled the start of the Nations Cup qualifiers, with the games which were to start next month being moved to April.

The dates were adjusted to allow for the staging of the women’s football symposium in Morocco in March.

“I have submitted a proposal for the qualifiers and we are waiting for the approval.

“It has been a while since the players were in action, so would want some good warm-up matches so that we can work out on a number of areas before our first competitive match.

“We are working on something for the national team, but also hope that some of the teams in the domestic league will begin their pre-season by end of month so that players quickly get in shape.

“It is a blessing in disguise that the qualifiers were moved as February was going to be a little bit too early for us and difficult.

“But by April, I am sure most of our players would be very active at their clubs, which should greatly help us when we camp for the national team. Remember the league got suspended before it was finished, so some of our players have been inactive since we played the COSAFA final on 24 September,’’ Sibanda said.

The former Mighty Warriors striker also noted with concern that some of their neighbours like South Africa’s Banyana Banyana have been playing periodically since they lifted another COSAFA title at Barbourfields.

Tomorrow, South Africa host Sweden in an international friendly in Durban.

“South Africa have played a couple of games since the COSAFA tournament and they are on a bye in the first round of the Nations Cup qualifiers.

“I am just hoping that we will get all the support,” said Sibanda.

Sibanda insisted that her major focus was on a securing a berth at the tournament in Ghana.

“But first things first, we have to meet Namibia first and hopefully go through and then meet either Tanzania or Zambia. But we want to go to Ghana,” said Sibanda.

The Mighty Warriors have previously been to the Nations Cup three times, but failed to progress beyond the group stages.

Their best ever appearance remains in 2000, when they finished fourth at the finals in South Africa, when the tournament was still known as the African Women Championships.