adminThe tournament started on 1 December and ends on Saturday.
The Young Warriors played second fiddle to more intact sides like Namibia and Angola who had enough preparation time.
Zifa gave the Young Warriors gaffer, Taurai Mangwiro, less than nine days to prepare the players for the tournament despite the fact that most of them had been out of action for a while.
In recent years, this is the first time that the country has been eliminated in the opening stages of the tournament. Zimbabwe’s Under-20 sides have always been a steady lot and the most that they have done is win the tournament.
In 2007, Zimbabwe won gold at the tournament when they beat South Africa on their own home ground 3-0.
Last year, they were knocked out in the semi-final stage of the tournament by Zambia when they fell 1-0 but they went on to win bronze after beating Madagascar 3-1.
In this year’s edition, they drew in their first match against Namibia 1-1 and went on to lose 3-2 in their encounter with Angola.
Trevor Mutero and Marvelous Nakamba scored the goals for Zimbabwe while Angola got theirs from Afonso Eddie, Nicolu Adriano, Almeida Valdermar.
The defence led by Edwin Nkomo let the rest down against Angola as they were a confused lot who were failing to connect.
Zimbabwe’s failure to get enough time to prepare was evident in the defence team as they left the Angolans unmarked all the time with Nkomo doing all the work on his own.
Although Mangwiro said he had let the nation down, the question that should be asked is whether it was entirely his fault that the country failed to get past the group stage.
“I feel I let the nation down. I was in charge of the team and we failed to make it past the group stage. This is not the best of performances,” he said after the match.
Although competition is tough with South Africa, another powerhouse in youth soccer knocked out in the group stages, there is no excuse for Zifa’s failure to plan properly for such a significant youth development tournament.
South Africa were knocked out by Zambia, losing 5-1.
Mangwiro said this was a learning process for the young players and that they were meant to be developed for the future.
“This is a developmental stage for the players and their future is bright,” he said.
Some of the players who were in the team had been selected to represent the country in last year’s edition.
The players include Marvelous Nakamba, Ronald Chitiyo, Willard Kalongonda, Tichaona Mabvura, Nqobizitha Masuku, Morris Kadzola, Kudakwashe Mahachi and Nkomo.
Angola had a different team from last year and coach Joao Gomes said this was due to the fact that they rotate the players.
“There are some who went to Swaziland for the Under-20 Zone Six Championships and some who were selected for this tournament. We rotate the players that is why there are no players from last year’s team,” he said.
Namibia on the other end had seven players from last year’s tournament who are Alfeus Handura, Petrus Shitembi, Randall Goagoseb, Robinson Iyambo, Sadney Urikhob, Okeri Maekopo and Benson Shilongo.
In their match against Zimbabwe, Namibia got their goal from Hendrick Somaeb while Talent Chawapiwa got off the bench to score for the country.
Chawapiwa was given a starting role in their match against Angola but failed to make the impact that he made when playing against Namibia.
Zimbabwe could also say they were let down by the officiating when they were denied two clear penalties and a third goal by Mfiki Lwandile of South Africa.
Some of his decisions were questionable especially after an Angolan player handled inside the box in a bid to clear and later Chitiyo being hacked down inside the box thereby being denied a goal scoring opportunity. Referee Lwandile waved play on in both instances.
The Young Warriors team returned home yesterday.
Online Reporter