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BRACING FOR THE BIG ONE . . . Mwanza Secondary School Under-17 girls team of Goromonzi, which won in Mashonaland East last week, will be hoping to make an impact at the national finals in Harare this weekend

Takudzwa Chitsiga Sports Reporter
COPA Coca-Cola boys Under-16 defending champions Chemhanza High are taking a cautious approach ahead of the national finals of the schools flagship football tournament set for this weekend in the capital.
Some of the best teenage footballers in this country converge at Gwanzura and Zimbabwe Grounds, two football grounds that have honed some of greatest players to grace our football fields, for this year’s edition of the Copa Coca-Cola finals.

Peter Ndlovu, widely considered as the greatest footballer to come out of Zimbabwe, first made his mark at this tournament.
And the final, this year, comes in the week that the former Warriors’ skipper is in the country with his Mamelodi Sundowns team who are having their pre-season preparations.

The organisers were yesterday mooting the possibility of inviting Ndlovu to grace the weekend football festival, but that is unlikely to happen given that Sundowns are likely to fly out of the country tomorrow.

But defending champions Chemhanza will be there and held their last training session, in their backyard, yesterday and have settled for the team that will represent the school in the capital.

They expect to be in the capital by Friday.
Organising committee chairman Patterson Muroyi believes Chemhanza will have to be at their very best to defend their crown this year.

“We had a solid team last year but most of the players have since graduated to another level,” he said.
“We still have talented players but it still needs to be polished so that they can play at a very high level.”

The showcase, which is being hosted by Harare province, will be staged at various venues, including the Zimbabwe Grounds, Takashinga Cricket Academy, Highfield High School, Kuwangira and Chengu schools in Highfield on Saturday and Sunday.

Harare province will also host the national finals of the girls Under-17 football.
The organisers held a meeting to discuss security and other issues that need attention at Highfield High 1 yesterday.

Head in charge of soccer in Harare province Ropafadzo Matemavi said they finalised all issues at yesterday’s meeting which was well represented and they now look forward to the big event.

“We have done quite a lot in terms of preparations on the security side, mainly, and we also managed to make sure that the venues are available for the matches.
“Our concern was that of security but we managed to engage the Police who will help us during the event.

“The coming in of the police is good for us as we are looking forward to an incident-free event. Everyone was well represented and the sponsors have pledged to bring on board their loss control personnel to help in terms of security.

“We also managed to discuss the venues and we are happy that they are all ready for use come weekend,” Mutemavi said.
Harare will have four representatives — 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.
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.