adminMehluli Sibanda Senior Sports Reporter
BULAWAYO Province Copa Coca-Cola schools soccer champions Mpopoma High are keen to make an impression at the national finals of the same tournament that will be staged in the city from Friday through to Sunday. Mpopoma will be making a return to the national stage of the most prestigious football competition meant for boys aged 16 years and under, where they last competed in 2010 in Masvingo.
Coached by Misheck Maphosa, Mpopoma trounced Milton 3-0 in the final match of the provincial competition played at Gifford High School on 3 July to earn the right to represent Bulawayo at the national event.
It has been a brilliant run for Mpopoma who are from Mzilikazi district in the metropolitan province. What makes the whole team believe they can conquer at the national finals is the fact that their goalkeeper Brian Ndlovu is yet to concede a goal in open play in the nine matches Mpopoma have played on their way to the national finals.
At district level, Mpopoma saw off Nkulumane 2-0 and thrashed Mandwandwe 4-0 to finish on top of their group. In the semifinals, Mpopoma won 1-0 over Lobengula and triumphed by a similar scoreline over Ihlathi which paved their way to compete at provincial level.
Mpopoma made their intentions of being provincial winners clear when they despatched last year’s Bulawayo champions Mzilikazi 2-0 in their first group match, a result they followed up with 4-0 routing of Milton and finished off with a 5-0 drubbing of Saint Bernards.
It was, however, not easy in the last four where they met Gifford with the match concluding in a 0-0 stalemate and had to be decided on penalties. Mpopoma went on to triumph 7-6 in sudden death to book their place in the final.
The final was not again a stroll in the park for Mpopoma as Milton, despite having arrived an hour late as their headmaster William Ncube was said to have taken his time to release the school minibus to ferry the team, which saw the school being fined $100 by the National Association of Secondary Heads, refused to give in.
The two teams were deadlocked at 0-0 before going to the break, but Mpopoma managed to break the resistance in the second period and went on to triumph 3-0, the goals coming from double scorer Nathaniel Moyo and Martin Mnkandla.
Shalon Murechu of Mpopoma, despite having started only one match at Gifford, finished as the top goal scorer with five goals to his name.
Coach Maphosa believes the key to their success was the fact that they held most training sessions during the school holidays which made them hard to beat.
“The boys have boosted their confidence by winning at district and provincial levels, this year we want to make sure we are the national winners,’’ said Maphosa.
Last week Mpopoma held combined training sessions and this week they will fine tune twice as they seek to leave a mark in the tournament.
Almost all the players in the Mpopoma squad turn out for a club in the Bulawayo junior football structures. Chicken Inn, Mpumelelo and Ajax Hotspurs are the teams with most players at Mpopoma.
Sports director James Rugwevera made a passionate plea to Nash to do away with the system of disqualification of players based on their physical appearance as that proved to be unfair over the years.
“Physical vetting is not promoting football at all, we want athletes with big bones, if a player is bigger than those of the same age it is not cheating. Nash should make a follow up and they will find these boys in class,’’ said Rugwevera.
He paid tribute to the headmaster Christopher Dube who he described as being supportive towards sports at Mpopoma.
The last time Mpopoma made it to the national finals in 2010 with Babson Ngwenya as head coach, they were left with only 11 out of the 20 players with nine disqualified. They got knocked out at the group stage but had Musa Phiri selected in the Copa Coca-Cola Dream Team. Phiri got the once in a lifetime opportunity in 2011 to travel to Chelsea, England for an international training camp.
Mpopoma are particularly concerned about four of their players who are most likely to be deemed ineligible to compete in the national finals based on their physical appearance yet they are some of the youngest members of the squad. These are Leroy Chaza, Destiny Maphosa, Moyo and Tafadzwa Ndava.
According to the Copa Coca-Cola national finals draw carried out at the launch of the tournament in Masvingo in May, Mpopoma will play Mashonaland Central champions Rujeko and Manicaland winners Mutare Boys in Group A.
Mpopoma are not alone in carrying the Bulawayo burden as the city does have host school Gifford also fighting for national honours. Gifford, under the mentorship of Nathan Tshuma represented Bulawayo at national level in 2011 and 2013.
It is the same scenario for Bulawayo for those aged 17 years and younger in the girls section where provincial champions Magwegwe are joined by hosts Montrose at the national finals.
With four teams from Bulawayo, there is optimism that this time one of the champions will come from the City of Kings.
Copa Coca-Cola national final full draw
Boys
Group A: Rujeko, Mpopoma, Mutare Boys
Group B: Prince Edward, Chemhanza, Nemakonde
Group C: Dewure, Guinea Fowl, Gifford
Group D: Tsholotsho, How Mine, Bernard Mizeki
Girls
Group A: Furamera, Selonga, Chidyamakono
Group B: Sodbury, Mwenezi, Seke 1
Group C: Zumba, Montrose, Dinyane
Group D: Saint Francis, Magwegwe, Nyamauru.
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