We achieved our goal: Nakamba

Sports Reporter
THE inaugural Marvelous Nakamba Foundation (MNF) Under-17 Invitational Soccer Tournament was the first step towards presenting budding stars an opportunity to showcase their talent and the Aston Villa star believes they achieved that goal.

The Zimbabwean international expressed his gratitude for the support his foundation got for organising the tournament.

“From the bottom of my heart, I would love to express great appreciation and a Marvelous’ thank you to the stakeholders, partners, the players, fans and general public for the support rendered in the just-ended @Nakamba_MNF U17Tournament 2022 edition.

“What we intended to do was to give these youngsters opportunities to participate and showcase their talent and as @Nakamba_MNF, we believe we achieved our primary goal,” Nakamba wrote on his official Twitter account.

Mutare’s MAJESA won the tournament after beating Highlanders 2-1 in the final of the two-day competition held at White City Stadium in Bulawayo last Sunday.

MAJESA used “wisely” the lifeline they received after the disqualification of Dynamos for age cheating by storming into the final and overcoming the Bosso juniors.

No doubt, the cancerous age-cheating that rocked the tournament led to the expulsion of Dynamos, who had won all their group games against MAJESA, Njube Hotspurs and Highlanders.

The other group had Chicken Inn, Hwange Dynamo, Bulawayo City and Ajax Hotspurs of Mpopoma.

It is good to note that Nakamba and his team didn’t let the age-cheating scandal dent their spirit.

Now that the tournament is over and Nakamba has pledged to continue supporting the youth development competition, it is time for the organisers of the tournament to do some introspection to make the 2023 edition a better success.

While it is commendable that the inaugural competition kicked off at a national scale, it wouldn’t have been harmful to have a low-key start and concentrate on community teams and grow the tournament over the years.

With most Under-17 players being at school, it would not have caused any harm for the tournament organisers to involve the National Association of Secondary Heads (Nash) to assist with the vetting of players.

This is not to say Nash doesn’t have its faults in terms of age cheating, but they have brilliant strategies to weed out the rot.

It was unfortunate that Dynamos were only disqualified after playing three matches, raising questions why there wasn’t any vetting before the tournament kicked off, as is the norm with most junior football competitions.

There are reports that save for Njube Hotspurs, all teams which participated in the tournament had some “baby-faced” overaged players in their squads.

The use of overaged players defies Nakamba’s ethos and goals to afford real youngsters an opportunity to flourish.

Perpetrators of age-cheating should not be allowed near such competitions, which not only taint the image of the game, but also soil brands of corporate partners.

With age-cheating rife in age group competitions in secondary schools, maybe taking the tournament to primary schools isn’t a bad option. But since Under-17s are almost ready for senior breaks and with scouts on the lookout for talent, hence the desire to focus on that age-group.

It’s selfish clubs, coaches and parents involved in altering children’s identification documents that keep denying right-aged youngsters an opportunity to shine.

Right-aged Dynamos players were robbed of an opportunity to shine, as the entire squad are viewed as cheats.

However, organisers should also shoulder the blame for appointing some individuals with a checkered past and driven by selfish agendas to run the tournament.

While acknowledging that Zifa is the custodian of football and can’t be ignored, there is no harm in it leaving organisers to run their event while they provide technical advice from afar.

One wonders how a player that caused the country to be disqualified from the regional Cosafa Under-17 tournament in 2020 found himself in an Under-17 squad again two years later.

What the tournament exposed is that the national association can’t be left to tackle age-cheating alone.

A collective approach is needed to arrest age-cheating and maybe it’s time Zifa gets serious by prosecuting instigators.

The MNF, however, must not lose heart by the flaws witnessed during its tournament and should not deviate from its primary goal of supporting underprivileged children and youth from early childhood to post-secondary education.