Presidential spokesman and Secretary for Information and Publicity George Charamba yesterday confirmed VP Mujuru would host the dinner for the women's soccer team on a date to announced later.
The Mighty Warriors have charmed the nation with their brand of football and an admirable fighting spirit.
In other news,COSAFA Champions, Zimbabwe’s Mighty warriors will take their regional war with neighbours Banyana Banyana of South Africa to a continental level after the two teams were drawn in the same group at the All Africa Games, which run between September 3 to 18 in Maputo, Mozambique.
In a draw conducted this Tuesday at the CAF Headquarters in Egypt, Zimbabwe’s Mighty Warriors have been put in Group A together with South Africa, Tanzania and Ghana.
Group B has Cameroon, Guinea, Algeria and hosts Mozambique. Zimbabwe has already faced Tanzania, whom they knocked out of the COSAFA Cup in the semi-finals after a penalty shoot-out. Ghana appears to be the strongest side in the group.
GHANA
Assistant coach of Ghana U-20 women’s team, Ben Fokuo, after the draw has backed the Black Princesses to be ready for task in a tough group.
“We are ready for all the teams. Every team that has reached this far is eying the ultimate and we have to prepare feverishly to make a point at the tournament," Fokuo told Cafonline.com.
“South Africa are amongst the bigwigs of women’s football on the continent and always have a strong team. In 2007, they beat us 2-1 at the semi final and that loss remains fresh in our minds,” he said.
“We don’t know much about Zimbabwe and Tanzania, and cannot afford to underrate them either. There are always surprises in such tournaments and we will not make room for any surprises.”
TANZANIA
Twiga Stars(Tanzania national women's soccer team) will be making their maiden appearance into the coveted All Africa games after they were given a walk over, after Sudan announced bowing out of the qualifiers. Twiga Stars also earned two previous walk over during the qualifiers from Uganda and Kenya.
The Charles Boniface Mkwasa outfit recently finished third in the Council of Southern African Football Associations (Cosafa) Women's Championship.
Twiga took part in the tournament as special guests and used the tournament as a warm up for the forthcoming All African Games set for Maputo, Mozambique in September.
SOUTH AFRICA
The Senior Women’s National team caretaker coach, Joseph Mkhonza, believes they have been handed a fair draw in the 10th edition of the All Africa Games. Banyana Banyana are in Group B with Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Ghana, while hosts Mozambique will be up against Cameroon, Guinea and Algeria in Group A. Banyana defeated Ghana in the semifinals in Algeria, and went on to lose to Nigeria who have not qualified for the 2011 showpiece. Ghana finished third.
“It’s a fair draw and with proper preparations we will do well in this tournament. I feel we will be ready to face the teams we were drawn against, but you cannot underestimate any side as I have noticed major improvements in Women’s football on the international scene. We need to ensure we remain among the best in the world. We have faced countries like Zimbabwe and Tanzania recently and we will use the experience we gained in the COSAFA tournament to draw up better preparation plans for the upcoming tournament. As much as well feel proper preparations have to be put in place for the tournament, we must also consider that some of the players are students and have to put their education first because it is equally important. Once I have done some consultation with my technical team, I will be able to put together a training plan that will work around their schooling schedules,” said Mkhonza.
Team captain Amanda Dlamini was equally cautious about the draw.
“It’s a good draw, and while we have played against the teams in our groups thorough preparations will be crucial. We had a good tournament in Zimbabwe and we need to continue where we left off. Hopefully we will have all our players, including those playing abroad, to ensure we leave nothing to chance. A great run in the AAG will prepare us very well for the crucial Olympic qualifier against Ethiopia in September and I am confident that we will do well in Mozambique,” said Dlamini.
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