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would rest overnight (yesterday) and immediately get down to work with a training session this morning.

With the game coming on a Fifa weekend for matches, the Mighty Warriors are hoping to overcome Banyana Byanya and score some points on the world rankings.

Both teams are coming into this match on the back of victories in other friendly matches played recently.

Zimbabwe beat Zambia 3-1 two weeks ago while South Africa hammered Mozambique 5-0 in Nelspruit last Saturday.

But Mugadza said they would not read much into that game as the this was a different game between major rivals.

Zimbabwe last beat their neighbours at home in 2004, when they beat Banyana Banyana 2-1 during an Africa Cup of the Nations match here.

Last year, Zimbabwe failed to beat South Africa at home when they clashed in two international friendly matches and the hosts won 1-0 before settling for a 1-1 draw in the second encounter.

However, the Mighty Warriors have found the recipe to do well in their own backyard against the rivals and in 2011, they beat South Africa 1-0 in the Cosafa Championship final at Rufaro.

The Mighty Warriors also came out tops when they thumped Banyana 3-0 at Rufaro in the Unity Day Challenge Cup in December of the same year.

Coach Mugadza is hoping her charges will repeat that feat at Sinaba Stadium at the weekend.

“We never had any problems on our way and the players were taking breaks and stretching their legs. So they will get some sleep and in the morning (today) we will just have a swimming session and then have proper training in the afternoon.

“It is going to be a tough match. We want to win and improve on our ranking. I have seen their match against Mozambique on television and we know they are preparing really hard as they would be going to Sweden for a tournament in September.

“They are also preparing for the Cosafa Championship and want to have a winning mentality.

“But the same applies to us. We also want to build momentum by winning these friendly matches and we are hoping that by the time the Africa Cup of Nations draw is conducted, we would have picked a lot of points and improved on our rankings.

“South Africa is getting a lot of international exposure and early this year they were in Cyprus where they featured against European countries in a major tournament.
“So this opportunity to play them once again is good for us.

“They also know we were in South America, so this match would be very competitive for both of us and we are looking forward to it.

“At least we still have another full day, Friday to prepare for the match,” said Mugadza.

Last night, South African coach Joseph Mkhonza and defender Janine Van Wyk appeared on local television here and conceded that Zimbabwe always gives them a tough game and would not be pushovers and they vividly remember how they beat them to lift the Cosafa trophy.