Gladiators face tough assignment against Zimbabwe

THE Brave Gladiators face a tough assignment when they open their Women’s Cosafa Cup campaign against Zimbabwe at the Wolfson Stadium outside Port Elizabeth on Thursday.

Zimbabwe are the second most successful team in the history of the Women’s Cosafa Cup, behind regional powerhouse, South Africa.

South Africa’s Banyana Banyana have dominated the competition, winning four of the five tournaments to date in 2002, 2006, 2008 and last year.

Zimbabwe, however, are the only team to have broken their dominance, when they won the 2011 tournament after beating South Africa 1-0 in the final.

Last year, Zimbabwe once again reached the final when they hosted the tournament in Bulawayo, but lost 2-1 to South Africa. Despite losing, they had some of the best players on display, including their red hot striker Rutendo Makore who was the top goal scorer with a great strike rate of 10 goals in five matches.

Zimbabwe also have a higher Fifa ranking than Namibia at 93 in the world and 11 in Africa, while Namibia are 18 places below at 111 in the world and 16th in Africa.

Zimbabwe should provide Namibia’s toughest opposition during the group stages, with their other two Group C opponents, Uganda and Swaziland ranked 22 and 23 in Africa, and 131 and 132 in the word respectively.

Namibia have quite a good history in the competition, having reached the final in 2006, before losing 2-1 to South Africa.

At last year’s tournament, the Brave Gladiators started off strongly, beating Botswana 4-0 after goals by Zenatha Coleman, Anna Shikusho and a brace by Vistoria Shangula.

They, however, lost their next two group matches, 3-1 to South Africa and 2-1 to Lesotho and eventually finished bottom of their group.

Against South Africa, Namibia conceded two early goals, but they were still in with a chance when Juliana Blou opened their account shortly before half time.

Banyana striker Thembi Kgatlana however scored her second and Banyana’s third goal late in the match to put the issue beyond doubt.

Against Lesotho, Namibia wasted a fine start after taking an early lead through a penalty by Shikusho, and two goals by Boitumelo Rabele swung the match in Lesotho’s favour.

This year Namibia have selected a very young squad, with only three players over the age of 30, in goalie Lydia Eixas, defender Ina Katutua and midfielder Elmarie Fredericks.

Despite having a youthful side, it still includes a number of experienced players in the likes of Stacey Naris, Thomalina Adams, Lovisa Mulunga, Twelikondjela Amukoto and Anna Shikusho.

Most of the players, however, are still very young, with half of the squad still under 21 and five of these under 20.

Some of the exciting newcomers include two 19-year-old strikers – Kylie van Wyk from Swakopmund, and Yvonne Kooper from Mariental, who was the player of the tournament at the Namibia Youth Games in May.

A total of 12 teams are competing in this year’s Women’s Cosafa Cup tournament, which has been strengthened by the inclusion of guest nations Cameroon, ranked third in Africa, and Uganda.

Group A consists of South Africa, Botswana, Madagascar and Malawi and Group B of Zambia, Cameroon, Lesotho and Mozambique.

The three group winners as well as the best-placed runner-up will qualify for the semifinals.