malvernmugadzikwa
TEENAGE forward El Shaddai Sadomba scored a fine goal late on, as hosts Zimbabwe claimed third place in the boys’ Under-15 competition with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Namibia in their bronze-medal match at the CAF Schools Championship, COSAFA qualifier at Gateway High.
Sadomba also walked away with the tournament’s Top Goalscorer award with six, in which he found the target
in all but one game for Zimbabwe.
He only failed to find his range in the opening game against Malawi. As Zimbabwe looked to make amends
for their slow start to the tournament, they played with some caution in the bronze medal match.
It was a game of few clear-cut chances, but the best fell to the hosts. It looked as though they would be
taken to penalties before Sadomba, son of ex-Zimbabwe and Dynamos international Edward Sadomba, scored a
fantastic goal late on.
He picked up the ball in the box and fired a low shot into the bottom corner, beating the outstretched dive of the
goalkeeper. The victory caps a fine tournament for Zimbabwe, who were left ruing their one poor performance — an opening 4-0 loss to Malawi that put them on the back foot in their pool.
But the hosts, playing in the competition for the first time, had a good outing. On a well-attended final day of the competition, South Africa completed a “double” for the second year in a row as they claimed both the boys’ and girls’ titles.
Both will advance to the continental finals to be played next year, having come out on top following a superb
three days of schools’ football action. The boys’ side — made up predominantly of players from the Ubuntu Football
Academy School in Cape Town — defeated Malawi 3-0 on penalties after the teams had played to a 1-1 draw in a pulsating final.
Malawi took the lead on the stroke of half-time in the boys’ final as Okestar Kanyenda scored a superb goal when he struck the ball on the volley and into the far post.
The Malawians had several promising attacks but were repeatedly caught offside before South Africa made them pay.
Rhys Ferguson saw his initial shot on the volley come back off the post, but he reacted quickest to the loose ball to send it into the net and take the game to spot-kicks.
South Africa scored all of theirs, but Malawi missed each of their penalties as Amos Nyirenda struck the crossbar, and Tinga Nkhoma and James Msongole had their efforts saved by goalkeeper Sabrie Losper.
South Africa, made up mostly of players from Edendale Technical High School, claimed gold in the girls’ final
with a 3-1 victory over Botswana, who pushed them all the way.
Khwezi Khoza, who finished as the leading scorer in the competition with 11 goals, netted twice for the South
Africans to go with a goal for livewire winger Rethabile Molefe. Botswana’s consolation goal came
from Amogelang Sebotho, who was impressive throughout the competition.
Mozambique were comfortable winners in the girls’ bronze-medal match as they defeated Namibia 4-0, the latter unlucky to finish fourth and outside the medals in both the boys’ and girls’ events.
The excellent Isabel Cuinhane scored all four goals for Mozambique in a dominant display from their side.
South Africa’s Simama Inganathi was named Player of the Tournament in the boys’ competition, while Losper took home the Golden Glove.
Teammate Rhys Ferguson and Zimbabwe’s Sadomba shared the Golden Boot, having scored six goals each.
Zimbabwe also took home the Fair Play award. South Africa’s Katleho Malebana was named Player of the Tournament in the girls’ category, while teammates Angel Zibula won the Golden Glove and Khoza the Golden Boot.
Namibia won the Fair Play prize. The winning associations in the two categories take home US$100 000, the
runners-up US$75 000 and third place US$50 000. The awards are decided by the Technical Study Group at the tournament, using data gained from the players’ performances in each match. — Sports Reporter/cosafa.com
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter