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NASH head in charge of football Albert Mucheka says they are ready for this year’s Copa Coca-Cola Under-16 boys and Under-17 girls football tournament national finals from today to Sunday in Bulawayo.
Chemhanza from Mashonaland East are the boys’ defending champions and Masvingo’s Chidyamakono are the title holders in the girls section.
The two defending champions will be joined by the host schools Gifford and Montrose Girls and the 10 provincial finalists. Each category will be made up of 12 teams.
The matches will be at Barbourfields, Mililani, Mckurten and Robert Tredgold.
Mucheka said all participating schools are expected to be in Bulawayo today, with the vetting process of the teams starting in the afternoon while the actual competitions get underway tomorrow.
“In terms of the grounds, we are now ready; almost everything is in place for the competition. It’s the 27th edition for the boys and 5th edition for the girls and we are expecting tight competition.
“We expect all schools to be in Bulawayo on Friday (today) around 2pm for vetting,” said Mucheka.
He said they were also happy with the coming in of new schools such as Seke 1 from Harare Province and Dinyane from Matabeleland North in the tournament.
“It is the intention of Nash to take football to all the corners of the country. We also want to expose everyone to football and the coming in of new teams shows that football is spreading all over the country such that there are no teams that can be taken for granted. The teams are now competitive,” said Mucheka.
Harare Province representative Prince Edward said they are ready for the battle in Bulawayo. Their coach Norman Taruvinga said their preparations were on course.
“We are actually looking forward to the event. We last competed (in the national finals) when they were hosted in Marondera, I think it’s about four or five years ago. Last year we were knocked out in the provincial finals by Oriel and the year before we lost in the group stages,” said Taruvinga.
Under-16 boys:
Group A: Rujeko (Mashonaland Central), Mpopoma (Bulawayo), Mutare Boys High (Manicaland).
Group B: Prince Edward (Harare), Chemhanza (Mashonaland East), Nemakonde (Mashonaland West).
Group C: Dewure (Masvingo), Guinea Fowl (Midlands), Gifford (Bulawayo).
Group D: Tsholotsho (Matabeleland North), How Mine (Matabeleland South), Bernard Mizeki (Mashonaland East).
Under-17 girls:
Group A: Furamera (Mashonaland East), Selonga (Matabeleland South), Chidyamakono (Masvingo).
Group B: Sodbury (Mashonaland West), Mwenezi (Masvingo), Seke 1 (Harare).
Group C: Masase (Midlands), Montrose (Bulawayo), Dinyane (Matabeleland North).
Group D: St Francis (Mashonaland Central), Magwegwe (Bulawayo), Nyamauru (Manicaland).
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