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Mzingaye Sibanda Sports Reporter
THE stage is set for the third edition of the Benjani Mwaruwari Junior Soccer Festival finals which will be held at White City Stadium starting tomorrow. The final draw for the remaining eight teams was held at the Zifa Southern Region offices yesterday. Ajax Hotspurs, Mpumelelo, LMC Academy, Chicken Inn, Santos, Masiyephambili College, Magwegwe High School and Bantu Rovers are the finalists.
In the first match set for tomorrow morning Ajax Hotspurs will clash with Mpumelelo while Masiyephambili take on LMC Academy in the second game.
Chicken Inn were drawn against Santos while Bantu Rovers will face Mwaruwari’s former school, Magwegwe.
The tournament will be played over two days, with quarter-finals set for tomorrow while the semi-finals and final would be on Sunday.
Highlanders are the defending champions, but they were booted out by Makhandeni in the preliminary round.
Zifa Bulawayo board member Mkhululi Mthunzi praised Mwaruwari for his initiative to promote junior football in the city.
“We would like to thank Mwaruwari for giving back to the community and we also encourage other players to plough back where they came from. The tournament keeps getting bigger and better every year,” said Mthunzi.
This year’s competition kicked off with over 20 junior league teams participating in the knockout phase for the available slots.
Mthunzi said this year they would take a hard-line stance against age cheating.
“We would like to advise clubs that there will be zero tolerance on age cheating. Let’s work together to eliminate age cheating in the game,” he said.
Bukhosi Sibanda, Denzel Khumalo and Mthabisi Tshuma are some of the players that are now plying their trade in the Premier League who starred in the Benjani Mwaruwari Junior Soccer Festival. Coaches and scouts will get a chance to spot the next generation of youngsters over the weekend.
Fixtures
Ajax Hotspurs v Mpumelelo, Masiyephambili v LMC Academy, Chicken Inn v Santos, Bantu v Magwegwe High School
derick.khumalo