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Sithethelelwe Sibanda

Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
AFTER a perfect start to their COSAFA Women’s Championship campaign on Wednesday when they destroyed Madagascar, Zimbabwe are back in action today against old rivals Zambia at Barbourfields gunning for another three points. The match kicks-off at 4:30pm.

Zimbabwe blew a number of good chances to thrash Madagascar, who are making their debut appearance in the regional football show-piece, 4-0 in Group A’s second game of the day. Earlier Zambia had thumped Malawi 6-3.

With both sides bagging three points on the first day of the tournament, today’s encounter promises to be close contest. Mighty Warriors coach Sithethelelwe “Kwinji 15” Sibanda said they need to go a gear up taking into account their opponents are also coming from a win.

“We just need to up the game, obviously, it’s a different fixture all together. We need to up the game because we believe we are also facing a team coming from a win and we are expecting a tough game.

“But we are also prepared for it. “What we all know from Zambia is that they are a physical team. We are just going to have a different tactical approach against them,” Sibanda said.

The Mighty Warriors coach were pleased with their start on Wednesday. “It’s good that we managed to win that game although we missed a lot of chances in that match.

“But it’s good that we managed to get a win, so going into our next match, obviously, we would want to correct the mistakes we did and try to even do better,” Sibanda said.

Zimbabwe, who have most of the senior players in the team, will be banking on the likes of Sheila Makoto, Nobuhle Majika, Eunice Chibanda as well as Makore who was outstanding on Wednesday by scoring all four goals.

She attributed their victory to teamwork. “I was happy because it was our first game, we wanted to win and I was happy I scored four goals. We worked together as a team, it was teamwork.

“And tomorrow against Zambia we are hoping to continue from where we left. We are going to win. We know Zambia is a strong team. “The least we can do against them is a draw. But according to the preparations we did I am confident we are going to win,” Makore said.

Madagascar have a date against Malawi in the other Group A match while South Africa meets Namibia in Group C.

Fixtures

Today: Madagascar vs Malawi (10:30am), South Africa vs Namibia (2pm), Zimbabwe vs Zambia (4:30pm) — all matches at Barbourfields.

Tomorrow: Kenya vs Mauritius (10:30am), Lesotho vs Botswana (2pm), Mozambique vs Swaziland (4:30pm) — all matches at Luveve.

Group A: Zimbabwe, Zambia, Madagascar, Malawi.

Group B: Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Swaziland.

Group C: South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana.