Region 5: Zimbabwe take on Mozambique

Sport
HOSTS Zimbabwe will get the football action under way at the African Union Sports Commission Region 5 Under-20 Youth Games in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

HOSTS Zimbabwe will get the football action under way at the African Union Sports Commission Region 5 Under-20 Youth Games in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

Staff Reporter

Today, hosts Zimbabwe will be taking on rivals Mozambique in the men’s competition.

That match will be played at Barbourfields Stadium with a kick-off time of 2pm and is the start of 10 days of intense action for new champions of Southern Africa to be crowned.

At the same time as that there will be a titanic tie at the tournament’s other ground, the Luveve Stadium, where Zambia take on champions South Africa in what is a repeat of the final two years ago.

These two countries are the only two from the southern region who have qualified for CAF 11th edition 2015 U-17 African youth championship, Niger. This will be played in May next year.

South Africa topped on that occasion, winning 2-1.

Both teams will now be using this tournament to prepare for their continental challenges at the African Under-17 Championships that take place in Niger next year.

Zambia are led by coach Hector Chilombo, who also looks after the national Under-20 side and said recently he was looking to make up for missing out on the gold medal to South Africa when Zambia hosted the tournament two years ago.

coach Hector Chilombo,
coach Hector Chilombo,

“We only have three players from the team that played the qualifiers because the age limit for this tournament is 1997. We will have no problems working with players as most of them have worked with us before and know our philosophy,” he told reporters.

“Our target is to go and win the top prize after missing out in 2012 when we hosted the games. The tournament will be tough, but we will work hard to win in Zimbabwe.”

Zambia is in Group B along with South Africa, Namibia and Lesotho, while Group A contains hosts Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Angola and Swaziland.

The top two sides in each pool advance to the semi-finals.

The women’s Under-20 competition gets under way on Friday too with two matches to be played.

Hosts Zimbabwe take on Namibia at Barbourfields Stadium with a kick-off time of 4.30pm, while across town South Africa will play against Botswana at the Luveve Stadium with the same kick-off time.

The women’s competition is played in a round-robin competition with the victor in the mini-league winning the gold medal.