Online Reporter
Veronica Gwaze, veronica.gwaze Zimpapers.co.zw
ZIMBABWE Under-15 boys and girls will now look to salvage their pride in placement games today after failing to make cut in the CAF African Schools group stages on Monday and Tuesday.
The sporting fiesta is currently underway at Gateway High School, where the girls’ side recorded a draw in their opener against Morocco before succumbing to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.
On the other hand, the boys managed to collect one point against Uganda as they fell to DRC and Morocco, throwing their second round prospects into disarray.
The top two teams from each group progress to the semi-finals with Zambia and Morocco surging through from Group A, while Zimbabwe and DRC play for placements.
However, the results do not condemn the future Warriors and Mighty Warriors to the litter bin and neither does it confirm any inferiorities.
After qualifying for the tournament as the hosts, Zimbabwe Football Association Technical Director Dominique Niyonzima said the teams gave impressive performances.
“For this current tournament, you know we are hosting, so we participated because we are hosting and not because we qualified,” he said.
“What I just saw from our boys and girls was impressive; it was a good performance, taking into consideration that they only had a maximum of 10 days to prepare, unlike other nations.”
The Technical Director notes that the tournament plays a critical role in talent identification, while it also presents a proper platform for player development pathway.
“So the impact of the tournament is there if you consider the development pathway of a player, “ he added.
“However, we still have a lot to sit down and work on as Zifa and the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to ensure that football is played more often to give players exposure.”
With other junior age groups meant to participate in the coming tournaments, it will also be a perfect opportunity for Zimbabwe to continue with player development as Zifa works to resuscitate the game.
“The impact normally has to be there, because when you want to develop players, we have to start from younger ones,” added Niyonzima.
“And this tournament being dedicated to under-15, it should be a perfect point of departure.
“On the development pathway, it should be on the second level, the first one being Under-12, then Under-15.
“But for this tournament to give a real impact to us here in Zimbabwe, we have to go back to schools, in communities and then organise football to be played the whole year because we can even see here that we have massive talent at grassroots.”
