• story by Musah Abelyire/ghanaguardian.com

    Zimbabwe's women football fans have expressed joy at their team's 'spirited' performance against serial European champions Germany in their debut match at the ongoing Olympic games.

    The Mighty Warriors as they are called managed to ward off the Germans until Sara Daebritz 22nd minute header broke their defence line by which time the Zimbabwe supporters in the stands were chanting "Zimbabwe Zimbabwe Zimbabwe"! in excitement.

    Germany's Melanie Leupolz, center, and Zimbabwe's Sheila Makoto, right, jump for the ball
    Germany's Melanie Leupolz, center, and Zimbabwe's Sheila Makoto, right, jump for the ball

    Prior to this match, there were fears the Mighty Warriors were merely lambs that were being driven into the slaughter house of the Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo as Germany had hammered West Africans, Ghana 11-0 in an international friendly match earlier in Germany.

    Coach of of the Zimbwabwe women's team Shadreck Mlauzi was all praises for his players after the 'enviable feat' insisting his team would have performed even better if they had made better preparations ahead of the games. "I am sure you are all aware that we did not have the best of preparations coming into the Olympics as such it was going to be a factor in the last minutes of the game." He said.

    "Other than that we think it was a very spirited team performance in terms of everything a coach would want against former world champions and a team ranked number two and being our first time in the Olympics or at a world stage" He continued.

    Zimbwabwe are ranked 93rd on the world rankings and are playing in the women football tournament for the first time.

    Germany's Alexandra Popp in action
    Germany's Alexandra Popp in action