IN arguably the biggest rivalries in women’ football in the Southern region of Africa, Zimbabwe and South Africa will once again resume their rivalry, this time at the Under-20 level, when the two countries meet in the African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 Under-20 Youth Games opener at Barbourfields Stadium on Friday.
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Regarded as the “Two Big Sisters” of the region, the two squads have met on regular occasions with very little separating them every time they clashed.
Their last meeting was in July this year at Rufaro Stadium when Banyana Banyana, who were preparing for the Namibia African Women’s Championship finals fielded a very strong side in that encounter, while the Mighty Warriors, who were preparing for the AUSC Region 5 Under-20 Youth Games sent out a very young and experimental squad.
The match ended in a goalless draw.
In that game, the Mighty Warriors used a number of players under the age of 20, who now form the core of the current Young Warriors seeking to conquer the region at these games.
Among them is Mavis Chirandu, the team’s captain and a regular in the senior side, Vimbai Mharadzi, Greata Bande, Mercy Marowa and Ethel Chinyengetere.
The Young Mighty Warriors team is coached by Sithethelwe “Kwinji 15” Sibanda, who has publicly singled out today’s opponent South Africa’s Basetsana and Namibia as her biggest worries in the four-team group which includes neighbours Botswana.
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Speaking to this newspaper, Sibanda said: “As a home team, we want to play and go all the way to the final although most of our players are lacking in international exposure compared to their counterparts from South Africa and Namibia,”
Other notable faces in the Young Mighty Warriors squad are Lincie Mpaya, Felistus Muchekenyi, goalkeeper Sukoluhle Ndlovu, Chido Muhara, Gracious Mageza, with the later having been called to the senior national team before.
Zambia are the defending champions, but will not be able to defend the title as the Young Shepolopolo Queens failed to make the trip to Bulawayo.
This year’s edition would be played in a round robin format with the team winning the mini-league grabbing gold.
Meanwhile, The Young Mighty Warriors’ male counterparts, the Young Warriors, will kick off their Group A campaign tomorrow against Mozambique at the same venue.
Besides Zimbabwe who are the top seed, the group also features Mozambique, Swaziland, Angola and Malawi while Group B has defending champions South Africa, Zambia, Lesotho and Namibia.
Other clashes will see Angola taking on Malawi at the same venue at 6:30pm, while at the same time Zambia and Lesotho will meet across town at Luveve Stadium.
The top two teams in each pool will advance to the semi-finals, which will be played on December 12.
