ZIMBABWE senior women football team, the Mighty Warriors, are closing in on their target of moving into the top 10 of the Coca-Cola FIFA Women’s Caf Rankings before the start of the African Women Championships (AWC) later this year. REPORT BY *gdn* This is after the team moved up one place on the latest Caf rankings released on Friday. The Mighty Warriors moved from position 12 to 11 on the continent and jumped two places up the ladder on the world stage from position 88 to 86. The Rosemary Mugadza-coached side recently played two friendlies, beating Zambia 3-1 in Lusaka before drawing 1-1 against fourth- ranked South Africa in Daveyton, two results which could have influenced the upward trend. Mugadza said the improvement in rankings showed that the team has significantly improved since bouncing back onto the international scene three years ago when they were ranked 22nd. “We are improving as a team and the latest ranking is very encouraging for the team. Our target is to move into the top 10 before the Afcon qualifiers so that we will be seeded when the draw is held. That calls for us to do well at the Cosafa Women Championships in October. But we are also looking at playing at least one friendly match with one of the teams who are ranked above us before we go to Cosafa,” said Mugadza. Since bouncing back into the international scene, Zimbabwe has won the Cosafa Cup, beating South Africa in last year’s finals. They also went close to qualifying for the AWC finals, falling at the last hurdle against Nigeria who are Africa’s best ranked team. The top five rankings on the continent remain the same with Nigeria leading the pack followed by Cameroon and Ghana. Banyana Banyana remained in 4th position followed by 2012 AWC Champions Equatorial Guinea. Cote d’Ivoire, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Senegal complete the teams in the Top 10. *gdn*
Posted on: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 08:10:49 +0000
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