With just two days left for the COSAFA Women's Championship to roll into action, the Mighty Warriors team coach Shadreck Mlauzi is happy with the progress they have made so far as a team though they had limited time to regroup.
The regional tourney will kickstart on October 4 to 15 in Gauteng, South Africa with a total of 12 teams placed in three pools.
Zimbabwe was drawn in Pool C with Lesotho, Botswana and Namibia whilst Pool B consists of Angola, Comoros, Mozambique and the defending champions, Zambia.
The hosts, South Africa, are in Pool A together with Eswatini, Madagascar and Malawi.
The top three teams from each pool and the overall best runner up will advance to the semi-finals.
The Mighty Warriors have been in camp for almost a week now and have been having intense training sessions in order to capitalise on the limited preparation time they have.
"The training is intense since most players have been used to training once per day at their respective clubs whilst now we are having double sessions per day in order to utilise the time we have. We had a full house on the first day with the exception of Peace Kanende who we understand had logistical challenges, but we look forward to working with her for future engagements," said Mlauzi.
"The response from the players was as expected, immediate and they have warmed up to the training methods and coaching style. The fitness levels given regular competition are satisfactory and our major focus has been working on the team’s tactical framework — giving the team belief and confidence."
After winning the title in 2011, Zimbabwe will seek to put a commendable performance at this tournament and go beyond group stages unlike in their last campaign where they exited in group stages.
This will be also the first competition for the Mighty Warriors since they missed the previous edition due to the Fifa ban, which was lifted last year.
FIXTURES
Zimbabwe vs Lesotho - 6 October
Zimbabwe vs Namibia - 9 October
Zimbabwe vs Botswana- 11 October