THE Mighty Warriors will this afternoon begin their quest for qualification to next year’s Africa Women Cup of Nations (Awcon) finals when they host eSwatini at the National Sports Stadium in the first round first leg match.

This tournament was supposed to have been played last year, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Zimbabwe will be looking to make a return to the finals which they last featured in the 2016 edition in Cameroon.

Next year’s tournament will be held in Morocco and for the first time in its history, will feature 12 teams from the previous eight.

The addition of participating teams at the finals will obviously give teams such as the Mighty Warriors a chance to qualify.

They also have, on paper, what looks like an easy passage to their qualification prospects.

With all due respect to eSwatini, they are one of the weakest teams in the region and the Mighty Warriors should not have any problem in dispatching them in the two legs.

The return match is on Tuesday next week.

eSwatini were one of the whipping sides at the Cosafa tournament that was held last month, losing all their three group matches and conceding a staggering 11 goals in the process.

Zimbabwe on the other hand, narrowly missed the semi-final spot by goal difference.

Head-to-head statistics between the two teams also show that the Mighty Warriors have never lost to eSwatini.- NewsDay