The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
MPOPOMA High School continued their dominance in Copa Coca-Cola, with their boys as well as girls’ teams being crowned provincial champions at tournaments held at Gifford High School.
Thursday saw the Mpopoma girls overpower Magwegwe 3-1 in the final to secure their ticket to the national finals. A day after, the boys also booked their place in Kadoma when they defeated Msiteli 1-0 in the final.
It will be the second year in a row that Mpopoma have their girls and boys carrying the hopes of Bulawayo at the Copa Coca-Cola national competition. For the girls, it is actually the third year in a row that they are standing for Bulawayo, having done so in 2017 and 2018. Last year, the Mpopoma girls, under the tutelage of Sisasenkosi Mapungwana were beaten 2-1 by Nyamauru in the final in Zvishavane.
Mapungwana, now assistant coach to James Rugwevera said they will try their best to bring the trophy to Bulawayo when the national competition takes place in Kadoma from 11 to 13 July.
“I am really excited about what happened today because as a team we say forward forever, backward never, the trophy is with us and we are looking forward to bringing to our province the national trophy,’’ Mapungwana said.
Babson Ngwenya, the Mpopoma boys coach is pinning his hopes on a fair vetting system in his bid to bring the trophy to the City of Kings.
“This year we are expecting the physical vetting to continue but we are confident that all of our players are going to be vetted in, if that’s the case then we should at least try and bring the trophy to Bulawayo,’’ Ngwenya said.
According to the draw conducted at the official launch held in Masvingo in May, the Mpopoma boys will play host school Rimuka 2 and the Matabeleland North champions. For the girls, their opponents at the group stage are Harare winners Dzivarasekwa 2 and the hosting school Jameson.
