Zim in tough Homeless draw

Group G with Portugal, Austria, United States, Romania and Sweden.
Host nation Mexico will play in Group A where they will face  Zimbabwe’s neighbours South Africa, Denmark, Croatia, Canada and Haiti while Ireland, Costa Rica, Argentina, Norway, Slovenia and Cambodia were placed in Group B.
Ukraine, Poland, Philippines, Switzerland, Finland and Bosnia and Hergovina will battle it out in Group C while Scotland, Lithuania, Indonesia, Greece, India and Peru will face each other in Group D.
Russia, England, France, Germany, Hong Kong and Bulgaria will all play in Group E and the other group, Group F, also consists of six teams — Chile, Italy, Czech Republic, Hungary, Luxembourg and Wales.
Brazil, Netherlands, Ghana, Namibia, South Korea and Ivory Coast will play in Group H.
“This is the first time we have held the draw so far in advance of the tournament but we are always looking for new ways to be innovative, not only when it comes to the tournament but also how we work as a team with our national partners, to help the poorest of the poor and tackle homelessness,” said Mel Young, president and co-founder of the Homeless World Cup after Tuesday’s draw in Mexico City.
All the matches at this year’s Homeless World Cup will be played on a round-robin basis with the top two teams from each group pulling through to the next stage of the nine-day soccer extravaganza designed for the homeless.
Zimbabwe are making a welcome return to the Homeless World Cup after a three-year absence from the global soccer tournament.
The country last took part in the Homeless World Cup in 2008 in Melbourne, Australia, where it was represented by eight underprivileged boys from Harare’s high-density suburb of Hatcliffe.
The team did well in Melbourne where, on the final day of the competition, they thrashed France 12-2 in the City Cup final, which was one of the consolation prizes at the week-long tournament whose overall winners were Afghanistan who beat Russia 5-4 in the final.
Zimbabwe have already picked a team of nine home-less players for this year’s Homeless World Cup — Joseph Mashamba, Talent Sanyangore, Moreblessing Gwauya, Tinashe Manjeeso, Abel Mavhura, Romeo Mungazi, Tashinga Makumbe, James Yolamu and Naison Jojo.
They were selected after a “thorough” selection process in Harare’s high-density suburbs of Hatcliffe and Mbare while one player was picked from Mutoko.
The team will be under the guidance of coach Farai Mweta while Petros Chatiza of Hatcliffe-based Zimbabwe Youth Achievement Sports for Development (YASD) will be travelling to Mexico City as their manager.
YASD are the Homeless World Cup partners in Zimbabwe and Chatiza is their project co-ordinator.
But Chatiza indicated yesterday that they were still battling to raise the more than US$50 000 that is required to send the Zimbabwean team to next month’s Homeless World Cup in Mexico City.
“We are still facing a big challenge in raising the required funds for this trip and time is fast running out for us and I’m afraid we might abort it unless some well-wishers out there come to our rescue,” Chatiza said.
He said they recently came up with a revised budget of US$55 000 and this includes US$35 160 for the air-fares of a Zimbabwean delegation of 15 people.
The budget also caters for the players’ out-of-pocket allowances as some of the accommodation costs will be taken care of by the hosts nation — Mexico.
In fact, the organisers of the Homeless World Cup in Mexico have indicated that they will pay for the accommodation of 10 members of the Zimbabwean team while the YASD will have to cater for the expenses of five other members of their side.
The Homeless World Cup has seen nine world-class football tournaments take place across the world in such places as Graz, Austria (2003), Gothenburg, Sweden (2004), Edinburgh, Scotland (2005), Cape Town, South Africa (2006), Copenhagen, Denmark (2007), Melbourne, Australia (2008), Milan, Italy (2009), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2010) and Paris, France (2011).
Since 2003, national representation has grown from 18 to 72 national teams in 2012 spanning all five continents of the world.
There are one billion homeless people in the world today and the Homeless World Cup exists to end this so that everyone has a home.
The tournament has been designed to promote social integration through football and create fresh, inventive solutions to end homelessness and poverty worldwide.
To date, an estimated 200 000 homeless people have benefited since the Graz 2003 Homeless World Cup and there are now football programmes working with homeless people all year round in more than 70 countries.
Over 70 percent of the participants experience a significant life change – they come off drugs, alcohol, get jobs, homes, education, training, become football players, coaches and social entrepreneurs.
The 2012 Homeless World Cup Draw
Men’s Draw
Group A: Mexico, South Africa, Denmark, Croatia, Canada, Haiti
Group B: Ireland, Costa Rica, Argentina, Norway, Slovenia, Cambodia
Group C: Ukraine, Poland, Philippines, Switzerland, Finland, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Group D: Scotland, Lithuania, Indonesia, Greece, India, Peru
Group E: Russia, England, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Bulgaria
Group F: Chile, Italy, Czech Republic, Hungary, Luxembourg, Wales
Group G: Portugal, Austria, United States, Romania, Sweden, Zimbabwe
Group H: Brazil, Netherlands, Ghana, Namibia, South Korea, Ivory Coast
Women’s Homeless World Cup
Group A: Mexico, United States, Colombia, Netherlands, Chile, Hungary, Paraguay.
Group B: Brazil, England, Argentina, India, Canada, Nigeria, Kyrgyzstan.