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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
WELL, it’s all looking good for Zimbabwe football right now and our schools’ select team has just emerged as the best at the Copa Coca-Cola International Camp after beating Uganda 3-0 in the final in Pretoria, South Africa, on Saturday. The camp took off on September 8 with the players going through various skill drills designed to help improve their control, shooting, dribbling and passing under the guidance of various coaches.
The competition then started on Friday and ended on Saturday with Zimbabwe clinching the trophy for the first time in the 18 years they have participated in the event.
Zimbabwe began their journey to success by taking on Kenya, Kazakhstan, Uganda and Algeria in Group B. They won three of their four group matches and drew 0-0 against Algeria but they had already qualified for the semi-finals.
They then beat Zambia, who were the defending champions, 1-0 in the semi-finals to proceed to the final where they dismissed Uganda 3-0.
Team coach, Never Mhandu, was a happy man and he commended his charges for putting up such a good show.
“It was really good, they played according to instructions. They played as a unit and it made my job easier. “The performance was great they worked very hard especially the game against Zambia in the semi-finals, it was tough but they managed to beat Zambia 1-0, which was good.
“It’s very important, it was my first time to go there and the boys did very well. Zambia, Egypt and Algeria were very strong, they gave us a good challenge and the boys had to work hard.
“The players benefited a lot because they were involved in different training methods with various coaches in South Africa,” said Mhandu.
Mhandu also hailed the team for their good discipline throughout the week-long camp.
Not only did they win the trophy but three of the players Tatenda Tumba, Tatenda Munditi and Learnmore Muyambo, who was the team captain, made it into the All-Stars Copa Coca-Cola African team.
Tumba was voted the best player of the tournament and top goal scorer as he scored six goals for Zimbabwe on their way to winning the trophy.
The 14-year-old from Chemhanza High said he was surprised by his achievements.
“I was very excited to be the top goal scorer but I was surprised to be the player of tournament because there were good, fit and strong players.
“I did not have the experience since it was my first time, so I was just playing for fun.
“I also made a lot of friends from other countries,” said Tumba.
Coca-Cola senior franchise brand manager, Mona Karingi, saluted the team and said as the sponsors they would want to see the young players scaling greater heights in the world.
“We see the talent in you and we want to tap that talent. Coca-Cola believes in you, we know you can do it. We give you this opportunity so that you can see what life can be if you apply your full potential,” said Karingi.
National Association of Secondary School Heads, Albert Macheka, said they were grateful to Coca-Cola for the support they have been receiving for the past 25 years.
“We want to thank Coca-Cola who have been our sponsors for the past 25 years, we thank them for this experience. Everything we went through during the camp was fantastic. “We are very grateful to Never and the boys for giving a good account of themselves. These guys are history makers,” said Macheka.
The players were presented with Chelsea jerseys after their arrival yesterday at Delta Granite Plant.
Other countries that took part in this year’s international camp include Tanzania, Swaziland, Lesotho, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo and DRC.
Team:
Tatenda Munditi, Edwin Chiyangwa, Mathias Ngoni, Mathias Chodewa, Learnmore Muyambo, Innocent Chifamba, Bukhosi Sibanda, Daniel Chibisa, Washington Parira, Glynn Tandi, Saidi Ebadi, Tatenda Tumba, Paul Makotore, Tafadzwa Mhundu, Andile Tshuma.
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