Mlauzi bounces back as Zimbabwe Mighty Warriors coach

SHADRECK  was handed the job by the ZIFA Normalisation Committee Friday night and he will be assisted by Yohanne Chikaola and Sithethelwe “Kwinji 15 ” Sibanda.

The other assistant coach is Correctional Queens coach Choice Dambuza.

Ndega Matsika is the goalkeeper’s coach while Portia Chiota is the manager. Dorothy Mugari is the Safeguarding office while  Dynamos spokesperson Chioniso Mashakada is the  media officer.

Mlauzi made history when he guided the Zimbabwe senior women’s team to the Olympic Games in 2016. He also presided over the 2016 Africa Cup of Nations Games finals in Cameroon.

The former Inline gaffer is expected to quickly select the players that will go into camp early next week ahead of the COSAFA Women’s Championship.

The regional tournament will run from October 4 to 15 in South Africa, Gauteng province.

The southern regional tournament will be the first competition for Zimbabwean senior women’s football since the country was re-admitted into international Former Mighty Warriors midfielder and Platinum Royals was the Mighty Warriors before Zimbabwe was suspended from international football in March last year.

Zimbabwe missed the 2022 Women’s Championships edition due to suspension.

“As the Normalisation Committee, we want the Mighty Warriors to be in camp for two weeks. The team is scheduled to arrive in South Africa on the 3rd, so we hope by Monday they will be getting into camp,” said Mugadza.

The Mighty Warriors are in the same group as Namibia, Botswana and Lesotho.  12 countries will battle for the title with the top team in each group qualifying automatically for the semi-finals as well as the best runner from all the three groups.

Record winners and hosts South Africa are in Group A alongside Malawi, Madagascar and Eswatini while Group B has Zambia, Mozambique, Angola and Comoros.

The Mighty Warriors who won the Championship once in 2011 when they hosted the regional tournament at Rufaro stadium have a lot of work to do to reclaim the past glory.

They last participated in the tournament in 2021 where they failed to progress beyond the group stage.

The other countries that have won the regional title once are Zambia who are the defending champions while perennial East African guests Tanzania won the title in 2021.

South Africa Banyana Banyana are the record winners having won seven of the previous 10 Championships.

state media