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Sports Reporter
LESOTHO senior women’s soccer team were expected to arrive in the capital late last night for the Unity Day Challenge Cup against the Mighty Warriors at Rufaro on Sunday.
The visitors who came by road via South Africa were met by the Zifa officials at the Beitbridge Border Post who assisted them to complete the immigration formalities.

As Lesotho were making their way into the country, Zimbabwe women’s soccer stepped up their preparations at Barclays Sports Club under head coach Rose Mugadza.

Mugadza joined her team early this week after her return to national duty as she had been in Bulawayo following the death of her mother.
The Mighty Warriors coach said there is still a lot of work to do after noting that her charges were lacking fitness.

“The training is looking good but we have a lot of work to do. Fitness is still questionable as we don’t have a league running. We are trying our best to get there. Since we are preparing for the African Women Championships in February we need to regroup as early as possible maybe in January after the Christmas break,” said Mugadza.

The former Mighty Warriors captain said they are not underrating their visitors.
The Mighty Warriors played Lesotho in two international friendly matches in Maseru in November and won 5-1 and 6-1.
However, Mugadza feels Lesotho remain a competitive outfit.

“We are not underrating them. Their fitness levels are higher than us and even when we played there we managed to do well by scoring in the first half but lagged in the second half.

“It is not going to be an easy game and we have to be at our best especially in the opening minutes,” said Mugadza.
The Unity Day Challenge Cup has become a traditional tournament which is played by the Mighty Warriors since 2010 when the team was revived and they played South Africa.

The following year the Mighty Warriors played Banyana Banyana again and won 3-0 avenging  the 4-0  humilation they sufferred at the hands of the South Africans.

Last year, Botswana were invited for the Cup and they returned to Gaborone with their tails between their legs after a 5-0 thrashing.
The Mighty Warriors are using the weekend game to kick start their preparations for the women’s version of the African Of Cup Nations qualifiers.

They have since planned a series of matches in North Africa against Egypt and will travel to Cairo in January. Zimbabwe have been drawn against Botswana in the preliminary round which would be played in February. If they progress they would meet the winner between Zambia and Tanzania in the last qualifying round.