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Jurgen Klopp admits he is under pressure to win silverware for English Premiership soccer giants Liverpool after splashing the cash this summer.

Klopp has spent £175 million on new talent ahead of his third full season in charge at Anfield, shelling out a world-record £65m on goalkeeper Alisson, along with big-money deals for midfielders Fabinho and Naby Keita and Xherdan Shaqiri in a busy transfer window.

Liverpool finished 25 points behind champions Manchester City last season but came tantalisingly close to winning the Champions League, losing to Real Madrid in the final.

Klopp knows close is no longer good enough for a team without a trophy since winning the League Cup in 2012.

“We expect more from ourselves,” he said. “We will go again for the championship and each kind of cup but that does not mean I can sit here and say we will get it.

“We have the highest ambitions, 100 per cent. It is the next step. We need to be ready for that. I cannot give guarantees here but I understand if people think that. I know about the expectations and that is completely normal.

“First of all we have to play the football that gives us an opportunity to win something. I am confident we can build on last season. It’s not that we lost things completely but you have to work on it to get it back.

“I am not in doubt about our basis or that we will reach it again. I want to have the best start ever but we all know that something can happen and then everything is questioned in a second.

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Collin Matiza  Sports Editor

SOUTH African female Superbikes star rider Zante Otto has promised to produce some fireworks when she takes part in this Saturday’s Toyota 50 Race Day at Donnybrook Raceway in Harare.

Saturday will see Toyota Zimbabwe celebrating the 50th anniversary of one of its vehicles — Toyota Hilux — and as part of this golden jubilee celebrations, they have partnered the Zimbabwe Motorsport Federation in hosting the Toyota 50 Race Day at the home of local motorsport — Donnybrook.

And Saturday’s main circuit racing will be spiced-up by the arrival of one South Africa’s top female Superbikers — Zante Otto — who will be representing the Johannesburg-based Monroe Racing Team; and the supremely talented 20-year-old rider has vowed to “captivate” the local motor racing fans on her debut appearance at this event.

Speaking through her handlers for this Saturday’s big motor racing event — Monroe Racing Team — Otto has indicated that she can’t wait to get on the track at Donnybrook where she will be involved in a “Battle Royale” with Zimbabwe’s most promising female Super-biker Jessica Howden.

Former South Africa national Super-bikes champion Shaun Whyte of Zimbabwe is also expected to be in action on Saturday where he will also come up against Otto.

“It’s race week! This time in Harare for the Toyota 50 Race Day. Due to rider injuries and work commitments, Zante Otto teams-up with our Zimbabwe local star Jessica Howden.

“Zante, proven to compete head-on with South Africa’s best will bring a new challenge to the Zimbabwe competitors. The usual capacity crowd (at Donnybrook) will be entertained to some breathtaking action from both Zante and Jessica,” Monroe Racing Team posted on their Facebook wall yesterday.

And Otto added: “Really amazing day out at Redstar Raceway today (Sunday), my first day on track on the Monroe Racing bikes and got to test a few! So impressed with the new Yamaha R6 but also loved being back out on the Kawasaki ZX6 like I raced in 2016?? also spun a few laps on the Monroe R3 which felt like home to me! Thanks to everybody who made it possible but now it’s time to take on Zimbabwe!!”

Otto is a young female motorcycle racer from South Africa who was born on December 1 1997 and grew up in Pretoria till she moved to George in the Western Cape in her early teen years with her family.

She started racing motorcycles in 2014 with the early guidance of the South African Motorcycle Racing Academy and it quickly progressed from 150cc motorcycles to 250cc and then into the 600cc category.

In 2018 she has been competing in the South African national and regional 300cc championships where she is a regular front-runner.

Early this month she was called up by Monroe Racing Team of South Africa to come up to Zimbabwe and compete in this Saturday’s Toyoya 50 Race Day where she will be competing in the 600cc class as well as the Megelli 250cc class where the fans and spectators can expect some awesome racing throughout the day!

And the Zimbabwe Motorsport Federation believes the participation of Otto at this Saturday’s Toyota 50 Race Day at Donnybrook Raceway will go a long way in raising the profile of motorsport events in this country.

Temba Mazvimbakupa of the Zimbabwe Motorsport Federation yesterday saluted Toyota Zimbabwe for helping in bringing Otto to this Saturday’s big event and for their continued support of motor racing events in this country.

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Jose Mourinho has told Paul Pogba he must maintain the same focus and intensity for Manchester United he showed in winning the Soccer World Cup with France.

Mourinho believes the closed nature of the World Cup was the perfect environment in which Pogba could flourish, with few outside influences to distract him from football.

Pogba’s perceived lack of focus was a cause of tension between him and Mourinho last season, with United’s club record £89million signing dropped for high-profile games as a result.

Mourinho was asked how he and United can get the best out of Pogba next season, after two underwhelming campaigns since his return from Juventus, but said the focus was on the player to deliver and produce the same consistency he did in Russia.

Mourinho has also hinted that Pogba’s focus at Manchester United is not at the required level and shifted the onus on to the France midfielder to perform at his peak.

Pogba was integral to France as they lifted the World Cup, scoring in the 4-2 final win over Croatia, and Mourinho pointed to the midfielder’s displays in Russia as to the levels Pogba can reach.

The two did not always see eye to eye at Old Trafford last season and Pogba admitted having “small issues” with the Portuguese boss as he found himself on the bench on several occasions.

Mourinho also recently named six players who he saw as possible replacements for captain Michael Carrick and Pogba’s name was not among them

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Arsenal fans fear their club will be run from America if Alisher Usmanov sells his stake to US majority shareholder Stan Kroenke.

The Financial Times reported this morning that Usmanov is actively exploring the sale of his 30.4 per cent share in Arsenal after accepting that Kroenke will never sell full control to him.

Russian billionaire Usmanov failed with a £1bn takeover bid to buy out Kroenke in May last year and has become frustrated at not having a seat on the board or any say over the running of the club. He turned down Kroenke’s £525m offer for his shares in October.

Kroenke owns a 67 per cent stake in Arsenal and there are fears that if he acquires the club outright then it could lead to a reduction in transparency.

A spokesman for the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust told Standard Sport “The AST would be very concerned at any outcome that saw the club wholly owned by Stan Kroenke. “If he bought Alisher Usmanov’s shares, the likelihood is he would take the club private, forcing out the remaining custodian shareholders. This would reduce scrutiny in how Arsenal operate and allow its corporate structure to be moved to the United States. It would not be good for those who care about Arsenal being run the right way.

“Arsenal is too important to be owned by any one person and there should be a plurality of ownership, including supporters, involved in the club. There would be concern at the idea that Stan Kroenke has absolute control of Arsenal Football Club and the likelihood that its legal status would be transferred to the United States.” — The Evening Standard.

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CHICKEN INN have completed the signing of former Yadah goalkeeper Samuel Mafukidze, following the departure of Elvis Chipezeze to South Africa’s Absa Premier Soccer League side Baroka FC and completed their mid-season transfer window business by de-registering three senior players.

BY FORTUNE MBELE

The former champions released Chris Samakweri, Brian Juru and Thabani Goredema with the latter having chosen to join Caps United.

Club secretary Tavengwa Hara yesterday said Chicken Inn are done with business for this transfer window which closes on Tuesday, having also signed former Bulawayo Chiefs’ defender Last Sithole and attacking midfielder Bravie Sibanda, formerly with Nichrut.

“Mafukidze is now our player and he signed for two years as a free agent. He is a replacement for Chipezeze who left South Africa. Last Sithole replaced Divine Lunga who also left for South Africa (Golden Arrows) while we also brought in Bravie Sibanda. All these players were free agents and we re-called Joe Nyabinde to replace Brian Juru and promoted Nicholas Muchadeyi from our juniors to replace Samakweri,” Hara said.

Pride Zendera, who was reserve to Chipezeze, is now Chicken Inn’s first choice goalkeeper and is joined in that department by Mafukidze and the young Wandile Ndlovu.

On Goredema, Hara said the defensive linkman approached the club and said he was heading to Caps United.

“Thabani (Goredema) told us he was moving to Caps United where we understand he was the whole of last week. We said we cannot close the door on him and asked him to tell Caps United to call us. We have de-registered him,” Hara said.
He had six months remaining to his Chicken Inn contract.

The former champions have improved their form and have gradually risen on the log-table to position three with 37 points, closing the gap on pacesetters FC Platinum by nine points and second-placed Ngezi Platinum Stars by seven points with 14 matches to go.

They have not lost a match in their last six outings, with five wins and a draw to Dynamos which kicked off their second half of the season.

After a win against Mutare City Rovers away at the weekend, they make another trip to Maglas Stadium for struggling Shabanie Mine for their next assignment before they return home to host Ngezi Platinum Stars and another big one away to Highlanders at Barbourfields Stadium.

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Zimbabwe’s leading brick making companies have raised prices by almost 12 percent on strong demand largely driven by increased construction activity in the economy.

A survey by The Herald Business revealed that Willdale and Beta Bricks have increased brick prices by an average 11,7 percent in the past two weeks.

Some small brick making firms, most of them concentrated in the Mount Hampden area, have also increased prices by significant percentages.

Willdale and Beta increased prices for common bricks to $190 per 1 000 units from $170 two weeks ago.

Face bricks, semi-face bricks and paving bricks have also gone up by a similar margin.

Around this time last year, prices for common bricks cost $140 per 1 000 units.

At $190, the price has gone up by 36 percent.

“There is strong demand for bricks and it is largely driven by growing construction activity by people who are building houses,” said an official with Beta Bricks who requested not to be named.

Despite the price increase, the producers are still struggling to meet demand.

“Usually, we give our customers a waiting period of two months because we are struggling to build up enough stocks due to excessive high demand,” a sales representative at Willdale said.

At Beta Bricks, it takes about three weeks to get bricks delivered.

While traditionally, the supply of bricks is usually affected during the rainy season, many people have been making huge orders as a way of storing value in light of depreciation of value of bank balances.

There are a lot of housing projects around the country including huge contraction of houses in Kariba by Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe that has huge deliveries of the commodity to the resort town.

Some roof tile making firms such as Zimtile have also increased prices to an average $1,10 per unit from $1 recently, pushing up the price of constructing houses and factories nationwide.

Reports say customers were also failing to collect the tiles upon paying due to increasing demand.

Roofing timber has also been increased regardless of the fact that there are many players in the sector of which under normal situation prices should come down due to competition.

Before the price irregularities the price of timber and tiles were almost the same, but recent developments have seen timber prices shooting up.

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By Tadious Manyepo

Striker Simba Nhivi is demanding to be released from at CAPS United just seven months after his return to the club.

The forward, who has failed to find his scoring touch that helped the Green Machine to the league championship two years ago, has now stopped training with the club.

Nhivi had a nasty fallout with the technical team last week.

The striker, with just five goals — three of them coming in just one game — to his name this season, even refused to be part of the travelling squad to Zvishavane for the team’s date against FC Platinum.

He had been picked for the tour of duty by coach Lloyd Chitembwe.

The fallout began when Nhivi was one of the players who were challenged by Chitembwe to up their game or risk losing his place in the team.

Nhivi was unhappy as he felt he was being targeted and he decided to stop training.

Reports indicate he is angling for a move to Dynamos.

Nhivi struggled when he went to play in Tanzania and was off-loaded, the latest setback to a career that has failed to live up to expectations.

CAPS United are believed to be eyeing a reunion with 2017 Golden Boot winner Dominic Chungwa who has been off-loaded by South African side Polokwane City.

Chungwa scored only one goal for the club who have decided he should take his career elsewhere.

It’s now likely that Chungwa will reunite with his old teammates at Makepekepe.

Abbas Amidu, Takunda Sadiki and Mitchel Katsvairo, who have been training with the team, are not expected to sign for the Green Machine.

CAPS United chief executive, Cuthbert Chitima yesterday said reports that a number of players wanted to leave the club were not true.

“It’s all speculation that a number of players have handed in transfer requests. My office is yet to see those (requests),” said Chitima.

“In as far as the team is concerned, CAPS United’s players still belong to the club until they are released.

“At the moment, there is no any player, including Simba Nhivi, who has handed a transfer request.

“That’s the position at the moment. All the players are supposed to report for training.”

Meanwhile, Ajax Cape Town have had their urgent application to interdict the start of the 2018 /19 Absa Premiership season postponed until tomorrow.

The Urban Warriors had returned to the South Gauteng High Court to try and put a stop to the upcoming season kicking off, as they seek reinstatement in accordance with Judge Denise Fischer’s setting aside of Advocate William Mokhari’s arbitration award that relegated the club.

The hearing was initially set for Monday at 10am.

However, Kick Off reports that the matter has since been deferred to tomorrow at 11.30am, pending the outcome of the Premier Soccer League’s leave to appeal, which is set to be heard at 9am on the same day.

The PSL have applied for leave to appeal Judge Fischer’s ruling, as they seek clarity before honouring the ruling that presumably reinstated Ajax into 15th position, while the PSL’s Board of Governors last week unanimously agreed to proceed with the start of the league on August 4.

“We gave the PSL papers on Wednesday (last week) and they could have easily responded by Friday, but they did so yesterday (Monday) evening, so it’s put the whole delay (of the matter) even further,” explained Efstathiou.

“We were hoping to have some sort of direction today, unfortunately we haven’t got a choice, but to stand it down, which means we’re now going to come see Judge Fischer on Thursday morning for the leave to appeal issue and then come back at 11.30am to this court (Judge Phanuel Mudau) for the interdict.

“So, it’s another two days, very frustrating for everybody. I mean it’s something that needs to be dealt with and needs to be dealt with quickly. I hope it’s not just a delay to make things a little bit more difficult (for Ajax), because I think the League could have dealt with this. I mean, we received their papers on the way here, so now we need to respond.”

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By Tadious Manyepo

Denver Mukamba’s return to Dynamos from a short-lived loan spell at CAPS United could turn out to be a non-event amid indications coach Lloyd Mutasa is not yet ready to take the player back into the team.

The 2012 Soccer Star of the Year yesterday marked his return to the Glamour Boys after he heeded the club management’s directive to report for training.

He spent the better part of this year on loan to CAPS United after having been dumped by Mutasa but his romance with the Green Machine turned sour when he went AWOL. The CAPS United leadership released him and he has traced his footsteps back to Dynamos.

Yesterday, Mukamba took part in the Glamour Boys’ training session.

But there are lingering doubts about whether Mukamba will be accommodated at the Harare giants as Mutasa appears reluctant to forgive him and take him back into the team.

Apparently, the return of Mukamba has split the technical team and the club management. Mutasa and his crew are against the return of the bad boy while the club’s management want the player back in their ranks. Mutasa, who helped mould Mukamba during the formative years of his career at Kiglon, yesterday confirmed that the midfielder trained with the rest of the squad.

With Dynamos firing blanks, having amassed just 22 points from 20 matches and a massive 24-point gap between them and leaders FC Platinum, Mukamba’s return would have been welcome given the player’s ability, when he is fully focussed on his job.

But it’s his other ugly side which Mutasa doesn’t want to poison the team.

“I can confirm that Denver (Mukamba) has trained with the rest of the squad this morning (yesterday),” said Mutasa.

“He is back and trained the way everyone trained.

With the management seemingly leaving the ball in Mutasa’s court, Mukamba could be in for even a rough time.

Dynamos team manager Richard Chihoro, who was rehired during a brief period when Mutasa had been relieved of his duties, having been fired upon the mentor’s recommendation in the off-season, said Mukamba’s playing career at Dynamos was dependant on the technical team. “I, as the manager of the team, can only confirm that Denver is back home from a loan spell with CAPS United,” said Chihoro.

“He has a running contract with Dynamos and, therefore, he is obliged to come to work (with us) like he did today (yesterday).

“I have no doubt that he will also avail himself at work tomorrow (today). That’s what his contract stipulates. He, just like everyone else in the team, should report for work every day.”

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By Petros Kausiyo and Grace Chingoma

As the national game continues to reflect on yet another poor performance by the Young Warriors at the COSAFA Under-17 tournament, one of the most successful drivers of junior development programmes in the country has broken his silence.

Rodwell Dhlakama has called for proper structures which will enable proper talent identification and nurturing in the country.

For the second year running, the Young Warriors could not go beyond the first round at the Championship in Mauritius.

The Young Warriors will play their last group match against Angola today after defeats to Swaziland (3-2) and Malawi (0-5).

ZIFA will also have to take the flak for the questionable selection they are using to pick coaches of this delicate age-group of players.

Former Zimbabwe Under-17 coach Dhlakama, now in charge of Premiership side Chapungu, said there was a lot of talent in the country.

“There are a lot of issues that need to be addressed, both administratively and technically. We can’t really say there are no structures at all because the school system is functional and there are also a lot of academies in the country to fish talent from.

“We can’t be really that bad to lose by such margins even to countries like Swaziland, Lesotho and Malawi,” Dhlakama said.

While ZIFA appear to have invested their faith in physical education teachers disguised as coaches, their limitations have been exposed at this level.

“I worked in Swaziland, it’s a small country, but they have proper structures and development plans,” he said.

“How do we marry this scenario where Rusununguko are always champions for Under-17 and yet they fail to provide a single player to the national team?

“This alone shows that we are not doing enough. There is so much talent in the country.”

“There are a lot of sacrifices needed when dealing with junior development so if you are not fully-resourced as a coach it would be difficult to execute your duties.”

Dhlakama also challenged ZIFA to have consistency in appointing junior coaches.

“Something must be done. The board member responsible for development should spearhead the programmes, this is a critical area and this person is a key figure who should understand the junior development portfolio well . . .

“If you look in the past, it was known who the best coaches for junior development and names like Ali Baba Dube or Cosmas “Tsano” Zulu came up, if you ask Chitungwiza guys like Alois Bunjira and Stewart Murisa, they will tell you they came through (the late) Never Gombera’s hands and in Mutare there were people like James Mahala.”

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By Collin Matiza

South African female Superbikes star rider Zante Otto has promised to produce some fireworks when she takes part in this Saturday’s Toyota 50 Race Day at Donnybrook Raceway in Harare.

Saturday will see Toyota Zimbabwe celebrating the 50th anniversary of one of its vehicles — Toyota Hilux — and as part of this golden jubilee celebrations, they have partnered the Zimbabwe Motorsport Federation in hosting the Toyota 50 Race Day at the home of local motorsport — Donnybrook.

And Saturday’s main circuit racing will be spiced-up by the arrival of one South Africa’s top female Superbikers — Zante Otto — who will be representing the Johannesburg-based Monroe Racing Team; and the supremely talented 20-year-old rider has vowed to “captivate” the local motor racing fans on her debut appearance at this event.

Speaking through her handlers for this Saturday’s big motor racing event — Monroe Racing Team — Otto has indicated that she can’t wait to get on the track at Donnybrook where she will be involved in a “Battle Royale” with Zimbabwe’s most promising female Super-biker Jessica Howden.

Former South Africa national Super-bikes champion Shaun Whyte of Zimbabwe is also expected to be in action on Saturday where he will also come up against Otto.

“Zante, proven to compete head-on with South Africa’s best will bring a new challenge to the Zimbabwe competitors. The usual capacity crowd (at Donnybrook) will be entertained to some breathtaking action from both Zante and Jessica,” Monroe Racing Team posted on their Facebook wall yesterday.

And Otto added: “Really amazing day out at Redstar Raceway today (Sunday), my first day on track on the Monroe Racing bikes and got to test a few! So impressed with the new Yamaha R6 but also loved being back out on the Kawasaki ZX6 like I raced in 2016?? also spun a few laps on the Monroe R3 which felt like home to me! Thanks to everybody who made it possible but now it’s time to take on Zimbabwe!!”

Otto is a young female motorcycle racer from South Africa who was born on December 1 1997 and grew up in Pretoria till she moved to George in the Western Cape in her early teen years with her family.

She started racing motorcycles in 2014 with the early guidance of the South African Motorcycle Racing Academy and it quickly progressed from 150cc motorcycles to 250cc and then into the 600cc category.

In 2018 she has been competing in the South African national and regional 300cc championships where she is a regular front-runner.

Early this month she was called up by Monroe Racing Team of South Africa to come up to Zimbabwe and compete in this Saturday’s Toyoya 50 Race Day where she will be competing in the 600cc class as well as the Megelli 250cc class where the fans and spectators can expect some awesome racing throughout the day!

And the Zimbabwe Motorsport Federation believes the participation of Otto at this Saturday’s Toyota 50 Race Day at Donnybrook Raceway will go a long way in raising the profile of motorsport events in this country.

Temba Mazvimbakupa of the Zimbabwe Motorsport Federation yesterday saluted Toyota Zimbabwe for helping in bringing Otto to this Saturday’s big event and for their continued support of motor racing events in this country.

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By Ellina Mhlanga

Visiting Swiss handball coach Rolf Haussener says there is potential for the country to grow the sport and match their counterparts in the region and continent.

Haussener was in the country for a training camp with the Under-18 team at Chitungwiza Aquatic Complex as part of the Zimbabwe Handball Federation long-term plan to set a foundation for future senior national teams.

The camp ended yesterday and he is scheduled to leave the country tomorrow.

Speaking to The Herald, Haussener said there is still a lot of work to be done but pointed out there was room for growth.

“Actually I saw, let me say, 25 percent of the players or 35 percent of the players, who could become good players.

“I think one of the problem is the infrastructure . . . handball should be played indoor and in Zimbabwe there are a few sport halls.

“So it’s a bit new world for these guys playing indoor, which makes it a bit difficult to realise the quality they have.

“But I am optimistic and I think we can really create a team of 18 or 20 guys and these guys are in an age where they are learning quickly and a lot.

The former professional player believes what needs to be looked at is continuity of the programme.

“But, after this, the big question is will these players be able to keep on training for these few years?

“Will they be fighters enough, will they be motivated enough, will they have the opportunity to come here and for the future camps because of their school or university, or work or whatever they do?

“This is something I don’t know,” said Haussener.

He was in the country last year when he worked with the senior men and women’s teams.

One of the two local coaches who are working with Haussener, Clemence Leonard, said they were grateful for the support they are getting from the Swiss coach.

“I realised he is bringing in a number of moves that are different from what we do and that is exactly what we need in terms of tactics of the game.

“And that also helps us as coaches to keep working on that even if he goes away, so that we keep improving our athletes,” said Leonard.

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By Petros Kausiyo

Harare business executive, Marshal Jonga, believes Zimbabwe’s quickest route to a FIFA World Cup could be through Beach Soccer and has vowed to breathe life into this version of the game.

Jonga will on August 9 be challenging the stranglehold that incumbent chairman Joseph Musariri has had on Zimbabwe’s Beach Soccer and wants to be its next chairman.

The pair of Jonga and Musariri were the only contestants for the chairman’s post when nominations closed.

The Beach Soccer chairman could have been elected on July 14, but the ZIFA Electoral Committee deferred the staging of the polls as they sought to clarify issues related to the electoral college of the affiliate.

The affiliate has, however, regularised its structures and are now ready to vote for their leader on August 9.

“It’s fairly simple to get to a World Cup because the top two African countries will represent the continent and this World Cup takes place every two years.

“At the moment there are about 16 African countries playing Beach Soccer so, yes, our chances of getting there are high and we have plenty of talent in Zimbabwe.

“But for the last seven years Beach Soccer has only existed in name without structures.

“Even the members of the electoral committee had to postpone the elections after noting that the absence of the structures and that alone calls for a change in approach and a change in leadership.

He also noted with concern the fact that Zimbabwe have only watched from a distance as CAF Beach Soccer Africa Cup of nations tournament come and go.

“CAF have opened the bids for those willing to host the 2020 Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations and had we put our house in order in the last five or so years, we could by now be submitting a bid to host the event.

“There are not many countries bidding to host and unlike AFCON, the Beach Soccer Nations Cup is not very complicated to host, but the problem is that we have to first play the game and spread it around the country and in schools.”

Jonga also dispelled the notion that Zimbabwe is unable to play this version of football.

“ZIFA also receive a grant from FIFA’s Forward funds which can be used to expand the game. In fact, the money is there at FIFA and we just need to put our house in order and apply for the funds.

“In the last one-and-a-half years that I have been involved with Beach Soccer I have seen a lot of potential and I think we can take this sport to another level.

“In order for us to make inroads we should spread it to schools, tertiary institutions and regions so that in the next 12 months we can have a Beach Soccer League kicking off.

“Contrary to public belief that absence of oceans and big dams could hamper the game, in Zimbabwe, we have natural Beach Soccer pitches on dry river beds and we have already constructed one at ZIFA Village,” Jonga said.

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CHELSEA Academy coaches who are in the country are today expected to announce one local football youngster set to travel to London and train with the English Premiership giants’ legends.

BY HENRY MHARA

The three-men delegation, led by the Blues’ football development officer across Asia, Laurence Griffin, arrived in Harare on Tuesday, courtesy of Unilever Zimbabwe, who partnered with the club through their deodorant brand Shield, to give one talented player a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend a day at the team’s training ground in Cobham, London.

Griffin is accompanied by Steve o’Reilly, the club’s football development officer in Thailand and Antony Myers, who is the club’s Foundation Under-19 College head coach and strength and conditioning coach.

The lucky player will be picked from a pool of 34 players who were selected from across the country by a selection panel of local coaches headed by former Warriors gaffer, Kalisto Pasuwa.

The players have been camped in Harare for the past two weeks and had two days from yesterday to impress the visiting coaches, who will make a decision after today’s training session.

It was a hive of activity at yesterday’s training session, held at Belgravia Sports Club, as players were eager to convince the Chelsea coaches.

Before the session, Griffin had outlined to the players what they were looking for from the group, for one to have a chance to make the trip.

“We will be looking at your attacking play, creativity, ability to finish in front of goal. We will flip back around and look at the defensive side of the game.

“How you defend as an individual, how you work as a team to be compact, to provide balance and depth to the defensive shape but also work across different units. We will look at the final stage which is transition, how do you move from attacking to defence, how do you change from defence into attack,” Griffin said.

“As individuals, we going to be looking for not just for footballers with great technique and the tactical understanding of the game, but we also will be looking for young men who show us their human qualities, young men who show us what they are all about. Are they someone who can put an arm around a teammate if they make a mistake, are they someone who can support their team.

“Have we got leaders, so there are a lot of different things that we will be looking for. So most of the times we will be looking at different ways you conduct yourself, how you absorb the information that is provided by the coaches.”
Griffin added: “My hope is to come back again here and we spend longer and we are able to do more for the community in the years to come. What we are looking to do whilst we are here is to inspire, motivate and also to help support the development of football across Zimbabwe.

“You gentlemen in here are now club ambassadors for Chelsea and Shield because the experience you will gain will last a lifetime. What I would urge you to do is when you go back into your communities, to your families is to pass on the information to the next generation.

“This is just the beginning of what is set to be an incredible partnership which will go from strength to strength in years to come so you guys are the flagship, the benchmark and you the foundation we are putting in place and will use to further the development of football in Zimbabwe.”

Pasuwa, who led the local coaches, including Cosmas Zulu who had been criss-crossing the country to select the final players, thanked Unilever and Chelsea for the partnership that gave the youngsters an opportunity to interact with top coaches.

He added that he and his colleagues were also set to benefit from their interaction with their Chelsea counterparts.

The post One local youngster to train with Chelsea legends appeared first on Zimbabwe Today.

THE Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa)’s technical director, Wilson Mutekede, has defended the national Under-17 team’s performance at the ongoing Cosafa Under-17 championships in Mauritius, where the Young Warriors lost all their group stage matches to bow out of the tournament in an embarrassing fashion.

BY GARISH PHIRI

Zimbabwe suffered three successive defeats, losing 3-2 to Swaziland in their opening match before they were walloped 5-0 by Malawi in their second group game. They were beaten 2-1 by Angola yesterday to end the tournament winless and bottom of Group C.

Their performances have drawn fire from football stakeholders in the country, with some accusing the technical team led by coach Tafadzwa Mashiri of biased team selection.

However, Mutekede has come to the defence of the squad in an account that actually exposes Zifa.

“The boys tried their best in this tournament. There is room for them to grow and develop. In the opening fixture against Swaziland, they conceded early, but they never gave up although they could not fight back to get a result,” Mutekede said.

The Young Warriors’ preparations were shambolic, with Mashiri only afforded a few days in camp with the team before flying out for the tournament.

“We didn’t prepare well for this tournament. We don’t have a functional league in the country that focuses on U17, specifically.

“We would want to push for initiatives to resume leagues that focus on these age-groups so that we build formidable teams that will represent the country well in future,” Mutekede added.

“We want to spread developmental issues to all 10 provinces of the country and have coaches that will help us pick raw talent. We have been relying on schools and academies to select players, but that is not enough.”

Zimbabwe bowed at the same stage of the competition last year.

Mashiri was forced to leave some players behind after they failed to acquire travel documents in time.

“We want to make sure we don’t encounter such problems next time when we go for the similar competition.

“We urge parents to make sure they acquire passports for their children as it is a personal document. We recommend if a pupil is active in sports, he or she should obtain a passport at the age of 13 and 14.”

Tapiwa Mandinyenya scored for the Young Warriors in yesterday’s match against Angola.

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RIO DE JANEIRO. — An agreement has been reached, and Tite  is set to continue as Brazil coach, with his new contract set to take him through the 2022 Soccer World Cup.

It is surely the right decision. When he took over two years ago, a third of the Russia 2018 qualification campaign had been played and Brazil were down in sixth place. There was real concern that they would lose their proud record of being the only country to have appeared at every World Cup. Instead, they coasted to Russia, where they could easily have gone further than the quarterfinals. Their 2-1 defeat to Belgium was a string contender for game of the tournament, and it could have gone the other way with a bit of luck.

It was the only defeat that Tite’s Brazil have suffered in a competitive game. The lone other reverse came in a friendly against Argentina, staged in Australia, where Brazil fielded an experimental side. The results, and the manner in which they were achieved, clearly justify Tite staying on in his current role.

The only impediment was whether he wanted to continue. Here he found himself in an awkward position.

A huge part of the Tite story is his capacity to learn — and an important component of this process has been the time he spent studying top-class European football. But for years he said that he would not be interested in working in Europe. He could not, he said, imagine himself achieving excellence in a second language.

He has perhaps softened on this over the past few months, and with obvious motives. He could, of course, return to Brazilian club football. But, after working with the calibre of players available to the national team coach, that would be a giant step down.

Had Brazil won the World Cup, then the temptation to try his luck in Europe surely would have existed, and, presumably, there would have been no shortage of offers. But with Brazil failing to reach the semifinals, he has not been swamped with offers, and so his best course of action is to stay put in a job where he has plenty of unfinished business.

In the past three World Cups and the past three Copa Americas, Brazil have only once made it to the last four — and no one needs reminding of the result.

Next year, Brazil host the Copa America.

In a tournament in which Paul Pogba, Luka Modric and Kevin De Bruyne starred, Brazil’s attempt to shoehorn Philippe Coutinho into the role of box-to-box midfielder was not a success. Could Barcelona’s new signing Arthur be the man to get Brazil’s midfield ticking?

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LONDON. — Dereck Chisora is back in the ring tomorrow and yesterday he stole all the headlines after he triggered a £20 000 bet between promoters Eddie Heard and David Higgins who are promoting the main heavyweight bout between Dillian Whyte and Joseph Parker at the O2 Arena.

New Zealander Parker was beaten in a unification clash by Anthony Joshua in March, while Brixton’s Whyte has rebuilt his career following a knockout defeat to the IBF, WBA and WBO king back in December 2015.

Chisora fights Carlos Takam in the undercard.

But, the Zimbabwe-born heavyweight stole all the headlines at the press conference yesterday as he challenged the two fighters’ promoters to put their own money on the line in backing their boxers.

Hearn and Higgins were then forced to back their fighters to the tune of £20 000 ahead of this weekend’s heavyweight showdown.

Victory for either Parker or Whyte will put the winner in pole position for a shot at world champions Joshua and Deontay Wilder.

The charismatic Higgins tipped the clash to be ‘’fight of the year’’ and said: ‘’Parker has to fight Dillian and the officials but I think he’s going to do it and he’s going to finish Dillian by knockout in round seven . . . I don’t think Dillian is anywhere as good as Anthony Joshua.’’

Chisora said even if Whyte was his “worst enemy” he would still support the fellow Londoner in this weekend’s fight against Parker.

A long-running feud between Chisora and Whyte has continued after the Brixton man claimed a disputed points win in 2016, but the Finchley fighter has surprisingly given his backing to ‘The Body Snatcher.’

“I want Whyte to win,” Chisora exclusively told Sky Sports. “He’s a Londoner. If I can’t support a Londoner on a day like this, what am I doing?

“Nothing’s changed. It’s just the god honest truth.

“Even if I hate him, my worst enemy, but if he’s from the same neighbourhood, us Londoners have to stick together when we’re in times like this.”

Chisora admits he is facing a brutal encounter with Takam, who proved his bravery in a 10th-round stoppage loss to Anthony Joshua, while the France-based Cameroonian has also gone the distance in a points loss to Parker.

But the 34-year-old believes Whyte will need to produce a calmer, more composed performance against Parker.

“You know me already. War, war, war,” said Chisora.

“I know my coach will be like ‘please Del,’ but listen, I’m a gladiator, I’m a fighter, so I have to go to war. I can’t help it.

“He’s [Whyte] a Londoner, I want the Londoner to win, but he’s boxing a boxer here, so he has to adapt to this guy.

“From what I know of Parker, he’s got good hand speed. He’s fast and Dillian is going to get hit, and he’s going to try and prove something, because it’s his home crowd.

“I see this fight going 12 rounds. There won’t be knockout in this fight. Somebody will be losing by points.”

Parker is the slight favourite with the bookmakers and has vowed to ‘do damage’ to Whyte after being accused by his opponent’s trainer Mark Tibbs of ‘pulling wool over the eyes of fight fans’ in his defeat by Joshua.

‘’I’m in great shape, there’s no excuses here. Before I used to come into fights and say hopefully I’ll have a good fight, catch him clean and get the knockout. There’s no hopefully here, I’m here to do damage,’’ the New Zealander said.

‘’I have the challenger’s mentality, motivation, hunger and drive… he thinks I can’t go to war. Let’s wait and see.’’

Parker and Whyte have both lost only once as a professional, surrendering their unbeaten records to Joshua. — SkySports/Mailonline

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Sports Reporter
FORMER Dynamos striker Christian Epoupa was unveiled yesterday by modest Botswana side Orapa United among half-a-dozen changes ahead of their new campaign.

The Cameroonian striker signed a two-year deal with the Orapa-based club coached by former Highlanders mentor Bongani Mafu.

Epoupa left DeMbare under a cloud before the start of the season after the Harare giants failed to pay him his dues.

The big Cameroonian was forced to terminate his contract which still had a year running, accusing the Glamour Boys of breaching the contract.

However, Dynamos have been making frantic efforts, of late, to lure back the Cameroonian back but, as correctly reported by The Herald yesterday, the efforts have been unsuccessful.

Epoupa was DeMbare’s top goal-scorer last season with his 12 goals helping DeMbare finish second in the championship race.

His performances also earned him a place among the 11 Castle Lager Soccer Star of the Year finalists selected by a panel comprising journalists, coaches and club captains.

However, DeMbare’s loss is Orapa’s gain. The Botswana club announced on their Facebook and Twitter handle that they had snapped up the player, together with five other additions, who include Bophelo Kealeboga, Kelapile Ndlovu, Gofaone Mabaya, Mothusi Johnson and Onkemetse Powe.

Botswana national team player Lesego Keredilwe has also returned to the club from a loan spell.

“Christian Epoupa signed a two-year-deal with The Ostriches. A stunning striker from Cameroon arrived yesterday and will commence his training session tomorrow with the rest of the team.”

Orapa, who finished third in the Botswana Premiership last season, will also compete in the Mascom Top 8 Cup in the new season.

The side recently overhauled their technical team in their quest to be competitive in the coming season by announcing the arrival of former Township Rollers coach Mogomotsi Mpote as one of the two assistants to Mafu.

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