Zimbabwe back to compete in CAF ASFC in Walvis Bay
Zimbabwe could not quite seal victory on home soil last time round but will be hoping to go all the way in the Boys and Girls competition at the CAF African Schools Championship | COSAFA Qualifier that will be staged in Walvis Bay, Namibia from October 11-13.
Last year’s edition was held in Harare and proved a huge success, but while they were certainly competitive, Zimbabwe could not take home the silverware.
They finished third in the Boys competition, defeating Namibia 1-0 to take home the bronze medal.
They were undone in their search for gold with a 4-0 loss to Malawi in their opening match. After that they turned on the style to beat Botswana 4-1, Eswatini 3-1 and Mozambique 3-0, but it was not enough to get into the decider.
There were some superb individual performances though, not least from El Shaddai Sadomba who claimed the Golden Boot award with his six goals in four games.
It was more of a struggle for the Girls side as they beat Eswatini 5-1, but lost to Malawi (0-3), Botswana (0-1) and Mozambique (0-3) and were not in contention for the final.
Zimbabwe did not compete at the inaugural CAF ASFC zonal qualifier in Malawi in 2022, so made their debut last year.
The country has long produced excellent footballers though and a key part of that is schools football.
Some of the greatest names to come out of the Southern African region have been from Zimbabwe and it will be exciting to see their next generation of stars at Under-15 level.
They will certainly be among the teams to watch this year in Walvis Bay, where the eight competing sides in the Boys and Girls competitions will be split into two first round groups.
The draw for the finals will be made in Walvis Bay before the event kicks-off on Friday next week.