Online Reporter
Veronica Gwaze
Zimpapers Sports Hub
JUST what the doctor ordered!
Zimbabwe’s schoolboys and girls chose the opening day of the CAF African Schools Football Championship COSAFA Qualifiers to announce their resurgence with convincing wins on Matchday 1 at the tournament, which burst into life in Stellenbosch, South Africa yesterday.
The national Under-15 boys and girls sides recorded impressive wins in their respective two opening games against Mozambique and Namibia.
The competition runs between December 5 and 7, 2025 and matches are being played simultaneously and has 10 teams battling for silverware.
Zimbabwe opened their campaign against Mozambique with the boys side claiming a 2-1 victory.
The girls were more emphatic against the Mozambicans, scripting a beautiful tale that ended with a 6-1 win.
Legends Football Academy striker Dee-Winnie Mapuwa once again led the Zimbabwe charge scoring four goals in that 6-1 demolition job on Mozambique while Praise Neshiri weighed in with a double.
After both teams had seen off the Mozambicans in the morning they returned with the same vigour in the afternoon to dispatch Namibia with the boys winning 2-0 and the Girls claiming a 3-0 triumph.
In that second game, Mapuwa opened the scoring in the fourth minute before Zimbabwe sealed a fine win via a Lakeivia Jaravani brace in the 12th and 20th minutes.
Demonstrating resilience and tactical prowess, Mapuwa and her teammates impressed coaches and managers and avid football followers back home.
“The youngsters have the hunger and desire to score, natural striker instincts,” was the general sentiment among most of the fans.
“The youngsters can do everything with the ball, interceptions, passing, dribbling . . . gifted ball carriers who with a little polishing can be more lethal.”
The qualifiers are now in their fourth year, with South Africa being crowned gold winners in both the boys and girls’ competitions in the opening three years of the competition. As a result of their triumph Zimbabwe took control of Group A in the boys competition with the two victories.
But they face a showdown with hosts South Africa today to decide top spot in the pool, with the latter having four points from their two games.
That means a draw will be enough for Zimbabwe to advance to the semi-finals top of the pool.
Mozambique held South Africa to a 1-1 draw and have a single point.
Zambia defeated Eswatini in their opening game in the three-team Group B, before the latter bounced back with a 3-0 win over Comoros.
Zambia and Comoros meet today with a draw enough for the current leaders.
Malawi defeated Lesotho 2-1 in their pool opener in Group C, before Botswana won 1-0 against Lesotho to eliminate the latter from the tournament. They cannot advance to the next round having completed their pool matches. South Africa completed a pair of wins in the Girls competition with a 4-1 victory over Namibia and a 4-0 success against Mozambique. But Zimbabwe top the pool on goal difference after they defeated Mozambique 6-1 and Namibia 3-0.
They will face off with South Africa today for top spot, but again, a draw will be enough for Zimbabwe.
Mozambique and Namibia are eliminated.
In Group B Zambia completed a 6-0 win over Eswatini in, who then bounced back and claimed a 6-0 win themselves over Comoros.
Zambia date Comoros today.
But with the Zimbabwean teams starting the competition on such a high note, all eyes will be on them as fans want to see if another power from the region can emerge to break the pattern.
“Good games, I watched both games and I believe that we have massive talent in Zimbabwe,” said a fan.
“The technical team conducted themselves well, when instructions came, they were very positive and encouraging which is great for such age groups.” Mapuwa gained attention for her exceptional performance in the COSAFA U-17 tournament in May when she notably scored four times in the match against Lesotho and finished the competition with six goals. She burst into the Zimbabwe team for the Girls Under-15 in 2023, just at the age of 11, and since then, she has remained constant in her goal scoring form.
