Zimbabwe Women’s National football team midfielder Emmaculate "Chippa" Msipa shrugged off a strong bout of a cold and severe sore throat to start in the opening match against South Africa on Saturday evening. 

The experienced midfielder insisted to play before she was later substituted with Eunice Chibanda in the 83rd minute.                 

It was not the same gritty performance in the middle of the park from her on the night as the sickness visibly wore her down.            

"I requested to play, l had to put my pain aside for my country. I am here to play and help my team win matches," she said.   

She is on the mend hoping that by tomorrow she will have fully recovered.      

"My performance was not that sharp but l think l tried under the circumstances," she said.                    

Turning to the game against the Pharaohs, Msipa says it’s a must win.            

"It our decider if we want to stay longer in this tournament. We have to score more goals on Tuesday, we are going to utilise every chance we get," said Msipa.        

The Black Rhinos Queens star says Olympic experience is coming handy for the team here.                            

"It also helped us. We played against the world top teams but managed to score a goal in every match. 

Three quarters of the players, who were in Brazil are here so combinations wise it helped us," said Msipa.