By Goodwill Zunidza
Under-prepared Zimbabwe faces formidable competition at this week’s COSAFA Under-17 boys tournament to be hosted in Harare and Norton. The South African U17 national team went into camp in Johannesburg on August 29 ahead of their participation in the event which is also used as the CAF Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier for the COSAFA region.
The South Africa Football Association (Safa) announced that the team will depart for Harare on September 8. Games start at the Heart Stadium, in Harare’s southern suburb of Prospect and Ngoni Stadium in Norton from September 11-20.
Zambia, the defending champions and the most successful side in the tournament’s history, have also begun fine-tuning for the trip to Zimbabwe, minus their previous coach Ian Bakala who is now coaching Caps United. Under Bakala, ‘Junior Chipolopolo’ made history by qualifying for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup.
This qualification occurred in April after they reached the quarterfinals of the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations, following a 2-1 victory against Uganda. The team has also found significant success in the COSAFA U-17 Youth Championship, winning the title in 2017, 2019, 2020, and last year.
This achievement was a historic first for the Zambian U-17 team as it opened doors for Bakala, a former Zambian international player, who immediately clinched a contract to coach the Green Machine, his Zimbabwean boyhood club. Alongside Zambia, Angola are also favourite to win the competition in Zimbabwe whom they beat 2-0 in the semi-final of the 2024 edition in South Africa.
The Palancas Negras’ Under-17 boys’ football team went on to qualify for the 2025 TotalEnergies CAF U-17 Africa Cup of Nations finals, securing a berth after finishing as COSAFA qualifiers runners-up to Zambia.
Their best continental performance was third place in the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations in 2019, and they have appeared in the continental tournament four times. Key players in the recent qualifiers included goalkeeper Gelson Dala who won the Golden Glove, and Omar Oliveira, who scored twice against our Young Warriors.
Coach Dominguez remains in charge of the team and has fresh pair of feet to rely on as the Angolans seek to pick up from where they left. By contrast Zimbabwe are anything but ready for the test.
The selection process for the team only started at the weekend, less than two weeks before the tournament kicks off. The exercise, which hardly passes for preparations, consisted of a week-long trial at Eaglesvale for foreign-based hopefuls who were warned to foot their own expenses, including food, accommodation and air travel.
Sources told New Ziana the trials were unsuccessful and poorly attended but still eight boys, mostly based in South Africa, were picked for the squad. The rest of the final select was sourced from around the country out of a skewed method which involved mere recommendations from improperly assigned provincial coaches.
Zifa reappointed Backlyfield Chivenga as head coach after last year’s outing in SA where the Young Warriors reached the semis. Belgium-based Cephas Chimedza who was a member of the Zimbabwe Under-17 team that qualified for the 1999 African Youth Championship in Guinea, has criticised Zifa’s nonchalant attitude towards the current generation.
“Short-cuts are not healthy for football development,” Chimedza complained. “We always act like we did not know of upcoming assignments. The (Cosafa) serves as the Afcon youth qualifier and I think we should be taking it seriously. “It is at such tournaments that teams come scouting and our boys can benefit a lot from that,” the 2005 Soccer Star of the Year pointed out.
Away from the pitch, the national football governing body has not held road shows to promote the event to fans who they expect to spectate and raise the morale of the team while players who represented the country in last year’s edition are still owed their incentives. The draw for the tournament was conducted last month with Zimbabwe facing Comoros, Eswatini and Mozambique in Group A.
The South Africans, known as Amajita, were drawn in Group B against Zambia, Madagascar and Malawi. Angola, Botswana, Mauritius and Lesotho complete the 12-team list participants in Group C. Only the top team in each group and the best second-placed side will progress to semi-finals.
New Ziana
