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PRIDE OF THE CAPITAL . . . The Oriel Boys High School football team, which won the Harare provincial finals in the Copa Coca-Cola Under-16 boys tournament after beating Mabvuku High 1, bask in their moment of glory

Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
HARARE province have declared they are ready to host the national finals of the Copa Coca-Cola boys Under-16 and girls Under-17 football tournament slated for this weekend.
The schools football jamboree will take place at various venues, including the Zimbabwe Grounds, where a number of football legends honed their skills, Takashinga Cricket Academy, Highfield High School, Kuwangira and Chengu Schools in Highfield on Saturday and Sunday.

The finals are set for Gwanzura.
Teams from other provinces are expected to start trooping in on Friday morning with the boys teams staying at Churchill while the girls will be at Roosevelt.
Defending champions in the boys’ category Chemhanza from Mashonaland East and Masvingo’s Chidyamakono, who won the girls’ competition last year, will be joined by the provincial winners and the hosting schools.

Head in charge of soccer Harare province, Ropafadzo Matemavi, said they were ready to host the event and expressed confidence in their representatives.
Harare will have four representatives in Churchill, Oriel Boys High, Roosevelt and Vainona. Churchill and Roosevelt qualified by the virtue of being hosts while Oriel and Vainona had to go through the provincial qualifiers.

“We have done quite a lot of preparations in terms of our teams and to host is to win. We hope to win in the girls tournament and in boys too.
“Our teams are very good, they have had a lot of practice, especially those who participated in the provincial competition. Our only concern is Roosevelt.

“They did not compete in the provincials, they are only using their hosting ticket but Churchill competed and we had a chance to assess them.
“Although they lost to Oriel Boys they are still a good team. So both Churchill and Oriel have good chances,” said Matemavi.

Matemavi said they will have a technical meeting today at Highfield I High School.
“We are ready, we had several meetings and preparations are at an advanced stage. We have a technical meeting at Highfield 1 High.

“We have several issues to discuss, some of the issues involve preparations of the grounds and issues of security. I think from Friday morning we are expecting the teams to start coming in,” said Matemavi.

Churchill and Vainona represented Harare in last year’s competition held in Mutare.
Churchill lost to eventual winners, Chemhanza in the semi-finals while Vainona went down to Chidyamakono in the finals.

Churchill coach, Gift Zvidzayi, believes his charges have the potential to cause upsets come Saturday and added that although there might be a little bit of pressure, playing at home, they should take advantage of the support they will have.

“We are prepared to host the event. We have been training very well for about a month. The boys are gelling well and the team is coming together.
“We lost to Chemhanza in the semi-final but this time we are going to rectify that.

“It won’t be good to lose in the group stages when we are hosting,” said Zvidzayi.

Boys Pools
Pool A: Chemhanza (Mashonaland East), Chipadze (Mashonaland Central), Pamushana (Masvingo).
Pool B: Oriel Boys (Harare), Mzilikazi (Bulawayo), Cheziya (Midlands).
Pool C: Mukondwa (Mashonaland East), Chinonge (Matabeleland North), Mutare Boys High (Manicaland).
Pool D: Churchill (Harare), Vimbai (Mashonaland) West, Mzingwane (Matabeleland South).

Girls Pools
Pool A: Roosevelt (Harare), Muzimuni (Matabeleland South), St Francis (Mashonaland Central).
Pool B: Chidzikwe (Masvingo), Magwegwe (Bulawayo), Mwanza (Mashonaland East).
Pool C: Chidyamakono (Masvingo), Chilisa (Matabeleland North), Gato (Midlands).
Pool D: Vainona (Harare), Nyamaruru (Manicaland), Sodbury (Mashonaland West).