admin
The provincial technical team headed by former national Under-15 coach Dumaza Dube, his assistant Sakhelene Nxumalo and Marko Dube has been tapping talent from the city’s six districts which are Nkulumane, Pumula, Magwegwe, Mpopoma, Luveve and Makokoba.
Nkulumane is made up of Nketa, Sizinda, Nkulumane and Tshabalala with Pumula South, East, North and Old forming Pumula District while Njube, Mpopoma, Iminyela and Matshobana belong to Mpopoma District.
Magwegwe North, Magwegwe West, Old Magwegwe and New Magwegwe are a district with Cowdray Park, Emakhandeni, Luveve, Gwabalanda and Entumbane falling under Luveve District.
Makokoba District is made up of Mzilikazi, City Centre, Nguboyenja and Makokoba.
Dube said they had covered four districts that is Nkulumane, Mpopoma, Magwegwe and Luveve and they were about to finish their selection and would soon be announcing the provincial squad.
They are considering players born after 1996.
“Our preparations are at an advanced stage as we are left with only two districts to cover.
“What we did at first was to invite all the clubs and then we had our tentative list of players that have been playing district selects.
“As we go around playing these games, we identify other players, assess their weaknesses and strengths.
“Once we are done, we will announce our squad made up of players that we hope will make it into the national team,” said Dube.
The national Under-17 coaches Lloyd Chigova and Mandla Mpofu are expected to assemble a squad that will compete in the qualifiers of the 10th African Under-17 Championships set for Morocco next year.
Zimbabwe starts their campaign against Mozambique in September and should they progress they will square off against Democratic Republic of Congo in October.
The final round of qualifiers will be against North African giants Egypt who have a vibrant junior policy and they might be a stumbling block to the road to Morocco.
Stanley Nkala of Nduna Secondary School, Bantu Rovers’ Bukhosi Sibanda, Onwell Gombami whose brother Honour plays in Belgium, Musa Phiri and Itai Mabhunu are some of the players expected to be part of the Bulawayo team that will go for the national selection competitions.
Online Reporter