daniel chigunwe
Petros Kausiyo
Sports Editor
TALENTED Zimbabwe youth internationals Calum English-Brown and Washington Mapuwa will headline the quartet of Legends Football Academy of Zimbabwe players, who are expected to visit English Premiership outfit Everton on a ground-breaking assessment tour next month.
The others are the upcoming duo of Preston Steblecki and Tatenda Maulidi, who at 14 will be the youngest member of the touring party.
LFAZ director and coach Farai Dhliwayo revealed yesterday that they quartet had been selected from among a crop of some of their brightest prospects.
The tour scheduled for November 18-26 is the first by LFAZ since they sealed a deal with the Toffees in June which the Zimbabwean outfit became the latest member of the Everton International Affiliate Programme.
Dhliwayo told Zimpapers Sports that both the players and their academy coaches were excited by the assessment tour, which he added, was also in line with the national focus in which the country is trying to grow and develop more of the local talent.
He is also hopeful of securing corporate support in order to help the young players in their pursuit of their dreams of turning professional.
“If local players can be benchmarked by the an EPL sides, it resonates with the national agenda to grow Zimbabwe’s football using mostly local talent.
“It is a pioneering programme that is taking academy football in the country to a new level and the EPL is the world’s best league at the moment.
“We have chosen some of the most deserving players to go on this momentous trip,’’ Dhliwayo said.
Winger English-Brown, now 22, had a stint in Germany in 2018 at Eintracht Norderstedt before returning home at the start of 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic forced the closure of global leagues.
He had in 2020, also been included in the national Under-20 squad as a late call-up but he could not make the trip as he could not obtain his updated passport in time for Young Warriors duty.
However, it was last year that English-Brown charmed the Gweru fans when starring for WhaWha in the Premiership.
Although WhaWha were eventually relegated the Gweru fans felt they had seen enough and been impressed by his talent and even nicknamed English-Brown, “White Lion’’.
“Calum represents a senior player who has been through our system and is a player, who has always been ahead of his time at the academy.
“He joined the academy aged 15. A year later, the child prodigy while still at school was signed as a first team squad member by then PSL side Harare City during coach Mark Harrison’s time.
“At 15 he also represented Zimbabwe at the Cosafa Under-17 in Mauritius. At WhaWha he proved that he is one of the best technical young players in the local league.’’
Mapuwa, who grabbed his maiden Premiership goal while at WhaWha, has been receiving rave reviews at top-flight debutants Green Fuel. The 18-year-old who is equally at home as a winger, as he is at centre forward was, also part of the cast that toured Sporting Libson’s Cristiano Ronaldo academy last year.
“Washie is one of the wonderkids that we have who burst onto the Premier League scene by scoring on his debut for WhaWha at the age of 17.
“In 202o he was selected for the Under-20 Zimbabwe squad for the Region 5 Games but the competition in Lesotho was shelved due to Covid-19,’’ Dhliwayo said.
He also spoke highly of the younger pair of the quartet — 17-year-old midfielder Steblecki and Maulidi.
“Preston has been at the academy from a very young age since he was 10. He was one of three players who got commendations from the trip to Portugal as a future star.
“His work ethic and dedication has made him deserving of participation on this tour.
“Maulidi might be 14 but he is already one of the Under-17 team captains at Legenda Football Academy and is an athletic specimen.
“He comes from a background that financially would not normally allow for such an opportunity but the boy is deserving of such a rare chance,’’ added Dhliwayo.
Online Reporter