The Sunday Mail
Sports Reporter —
LACK of proper preparations and ad-hoc selection of players cost Zimbabwe at the just ended COSAFA U20 tournament, a junior football development expert has said.
The Young Warriors bowed out at the group stage after being massacred 5-1 by Zambia in the opening match before drawing 0-0 with Malawi.
Zambia were crowned champions after beating hosts South Africa 2-1 in a final handled by local referee Nomore Musundire on Friday.
Bekhi Nyoni, founder of BN Academy, reckons poor selection of players caused the Young Warriors’ demise.
“We have to look at how we select the players” he urged.
“Most of the time the coaches are given a short notice to come up with a team and end up picking those players that are easily reachable.
“What then happens is that boys who end up wearing the jersey do not deserve it at all. We have good junior players but they are not finding their way to the national teams.”
BN Academy held its December soccer clinic last Tuesday at Belgravia Sports Club where over 60 boys were given a chance to impress American coach Justin Maulen who is keen to identify talent for further development in the United States.
“Over 60 boys came for the trials and I am glad the American coach identified eight boys whom he says he wants to have a closer look at before making a final decision.
“Our next clinic starts on Monday (tomorrow) and runs up to December 23. We have another one in January running from 3 to 7,” said Nyoni.
BN Academy is set to tour the United Kingdom in April 2017 as part of its exchange programs with international academies and Nyoni says Zifa should take interest in young talent rather than focus on the Warriors only.
“It’s simple but we fail to do it,” he said.“Look at Peter Ndlovu, we knew that there was a young man who was magical when he was just 14 because the association had a programme aimed at harnessing talent.
“Success does not come overnight. Zifa should take an interest in what we the academies are doing and have a database of all the junior players in the country so that it’s easier to track them.
“Such a system also eliminates age cheating. Presently we have players whose ages are questionable, serial cheats.”
