Bulawayo province holds national Under-17 team trials

Innocent Kurira
OVER 150 players took part in the Bulawayo Province Under-17 national team trials held at White City Stadium B-Arena at the weekend.
The trials are part of the country’s preparations for the Caf Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations 2025 Cosafa Qualifying tournament scheduled for December. Mozambique will be the hosts of the tournament.
Zimbabwe are in Group B alongside Zambia, Namibia and Eswatini. Mozambique were drawn with Angola, Malawi and Lesotho in Group A. Group C has South Africa, Botswana, Comoros and Mauritius. Once again, only the top team in each pool advances to the semi-finals along with the best-placed runner-up.
A host of developmental coaches in the country attended the Bulawayo Province trials with some of the notable names being Mkhokheli Dube and Siza Khoza.
Veteran coach and Zimbabwe Soccer Coaches Association (Zisca) national vice-chairperson Philani Mabhena was happy with the talent on display.
“We have been mandated by the technical director to select players province by province. In the last two weeks, we did the same thing with the Under-20s which was the base for coach Simon Marange to select his team that did duty in Mozambique. This is the first phase of our selection. I am happy with the response from the players and coaches. It’s been a tremendous response as we had over 150 players participating and giving their best. I am also happy with the oneness shown by the coaches,” said Mabhena.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe team set to take part at the 2024 African Schools Football Championship COSAFA Qualifier in the port town of Walvis Bay in Namibia is set to leave the country today for the tournament which runs from Friday to Sunday. This will be the third regional preliminary competition for the Under-15 tournament after its debut in 2022.It is the first time that the event will take place in Namibia, following previous qualifiers in Malawi and Zimbabwe. Teams will compete for a spot in the continental finals for both boys and girls categories.
In the 2022 qualifiers, six boys’ teams and five girls’ teams participated.
The boys were divided into two groups, while the girls played in a round-robin format.
Last year, South Africa won both the boys’ and girls’ titles in Harare, Zimbabwe, marking their second consecutive championship win.

-@innocentskizoe