The Sunday Mail
Sports Reporter
THE Under-21 Challenge Football League whose profile is steadily rising reached its halfway mark yesterday with a resurgent Sportsvale Academy beating Cranborne 2-0 at Hellenic Sports Club yesterday.
A 29th minute tap in from close range from Cephas Bhasikoro set Sportsvale on the path to victory before Nyasha Ngandi made sure of victory with a well taken 49th minute penalty.
In the second match of the day DC Academy were victorious over Galaxy Academy also winning 2-0 via an eighth minute goal through from Kelvin Makumbe. Omar Tsuro who had a bright start to the season before seemingly losing his touch then waltzed his way past several markers on the left flank and slotting a low shot past the goalkeeper in the 20th minute. Galaxy missed a penalty on the hour mark.
The league will now take a short break to allow the teams to train, improve and prepare for the inaugural CFL Cup tournament set for the end of June and which is expected to attract a number of foreign scouts. “The first round of games has provided the academy coaches with a good assessment of their players’ strengths and weaknesses. We are a development league and it is important that we allocate time for players to train and improve ensuring that those who are good become better and all strive for excellence. That is development. We have been able to improve players both on the field through matches and off the field through our life-skills seminars. We have identified a number of players who we believe are ready to progress to professional football.” said CFL chairman Farai Dhliwayo.
