Barely a week before the African Women Cup of Nations finals in Yaoundé, Cameroon, the Mighty Warriors trip is still mired in confusion with earlier indications that the team is set to leave this afternoon, although air tickets have not been secured.
According to the initial plan, the team should have by now settled well in Cameroon to give room for them to acclimatize to the hot and humid equatorial conditions, but due to poor organization, no concrete plans are in place to ensure the team gets enough time to adequately prepare for Africa’s biggest women soccer showcase.
The women national soccer team has suffered the worst preparations despite being the first national football team to represent the country at both the continental and global showcase.
Mighty Warriors made history by becoming the first national soccer team to qualify for the Olympics which were held in Brazil in August this year.
Reports suggest that ZIFA still owes the mighty warriors outstanding salaries and match fees for the Rio Olympics held in August.
That feat has gone unnoticed as the team has been neglected along the way to qualifying for AWCON.
At a time when the Mighty Warriors are pondering as to whether they will make it to Yaoundé, ZIFA President Philip Chiyangwa is in South Africa where he is reportedly campaigning for a top Confederations African Football (CAF) post.
During the run up to the ZIFA elections, Chiyangwa promised to restore order in Zimbabwe football and made it part of his top priority areas to ensure teams representing the country are not subjected to humiliating and shoddy preparations as that affects their performance. With over a year in office, Zimbabwe football is still mired in confusion and it remains to be seen if the warriors’ preparations for AFCON finals in 2017 will be different from what the mighty warriors have been subjected to.
