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Eddie Chikamhi
Senior Sports Reporter
THE Warriors defeat in a 2021 AFCON qualifier in Algeria summed up what could possibly rank as one of the worst weeks for football in this country.

Three national teams were involved in international assignments and they all experienced painful defeats at the hands of their opponents.

The Warriors suffered their first loss in the current AFCON campaign, after going down 1-3 to the African champions in Algiers on Thursday night.

The Mighty Warriors and the women’s Under-17 sides bowed out of the COSAFA tournament, in shame, as they could not go past the preliminary rounds in South Africa.

The three national teams shipped in a combined 29 goals as Zimbabwe recorded six defeats from the seven assignments.

The women’s Under-17 side set the tone for the disappointing week when they fell 0-7 to hosts South Africa, in their opening match of the COSAFA women’s age-group tournament.

They almost suffered humiliation, at the hands of minnows Comoros, in their second game, after finding themselves trailing 0-2 midway through the second half.

However, they changed the script in the last 12 minutes with goals from Morelife Nyagumbo, Ropafadzo Maferefa and striker Brenda Ndarowa.

Zimbabwe eventually won the game 3-2. But, they could not stand the heat against Tanzania, who handed them a 1-10 pummelling.

This was probably the biggest losing margin by any Zimbabwean national football team.

The side then wound up their dismal campaign with a 2-5 defeat at the hands of neighbours Zambia.

Such results should have left the girls traumatised, as they were taking part in the tournament for the first time.

The wounds may take long to heal.

The Mighty Warriors, who were once champions of the COSAFA Senior Women’s championship after winning the 2011 edition, failed to live up to expectations.

ZIFA sent the majority of the Under-20 team players to this tournament.

However, identical 1-0 defeats to Tanzania and Botswana ended their campaign at the initial hurdle.

Then, the Warriors headed for North Africa hoping to cheer the nation’s spirits as they resumed their 2021 AFCON qualifying campaign against African champions, Algeria.

Of course, the Warriors needed to move the mountains, in Algeria, because of the ever-increasing gulf between the two nations.

In the end, the local football leaders were left with some soul-searching following the string of defeats.

All the teams appeared to sing one song — the lack of proper preparations.

Football has a strange way of hitting back, if no serious investment is made, especially in preparing for such battles.

The players, who made the women’s sides for the COSAFA tournament, had last kicked the ball back in March.

They had hastily-assembled training camps, after football got a reprieve from the authorities, for training sessions to be held.

Scientifically, a player requires six weeks to get match fit and participate in a competitive match.

But, the Zimbabwean players had less than half the time to prepare for the tournaments.

The Warriors were also meeting for the first time, in exactly one year.

They last played together in November last year when they began the AFCON campaign with matches against Botswana and Zambia.

An attempt to organise a friendly match against Malawi, during the FIFA international window last month, turned into a mess.

The majority of the players failed to turn up for the battle against the Flames and, in the end, it was a wasted opportunity.

Their opponents, Algeria, at the same time, had a successful week-long training camp in Europe.

They played international friendly matches against African giants Nigeria and Mexico.

Football results this week

Zimbabwe Under-17 Women 0 – 7 South Africa Under-17 women;

Zimbabwe Under -17 Women 3 – 2 Comoros Under-17 women

Zimbabwe Under-17 women 1 – 10 Tanzania Under-17 women

Zimbabwe Under-17 women 2 – 5 Zambia Under-17 women

Zimbabwe senior women 0 – 1 Tanzania senior women

Zimbabwe senior women 0 – 1 Botswana senior women

Zimbabwe senior men 1 – 3 Algeria senior men