The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
MPOPOMA High School girls have booked their spot in next month’s COPA Coca-Cola football tournament’s national finals after dispatching Magwegwe 3-1 in the Bulawayo final played at Gifford High School on Thursday.
The win over Magwegwe saw Mpopoma, who are coached by James Rugwevera who is assisted by Sisasenkosi Mapungwana successfully defend their Bulawayo title. It means for the third year running, Mpopoma will represent Bulawayo at the national finals to be staged in Kadoma form 11 to 13 July.
Patience Ndlovu struck a brace with the other goal coming from Nosipho Dube as Mpopoma made light work of Magwegwe in the final. Lerato Ndlovu scored the solitary goal for Magwegwe.
On their way to the final, the Priscilla Marikosi captained Mpopoma clobbered Pumula South 8-0 and drubbed Luveve 7-0 to top their group. Mpopoma won 4-0 over Sobukhazi in the quarterfinals then thumped Mncumbatha 7-0 in the last four.
Mpopoma girls Under-15 football captain Priscilla Marikosi with COPA Coca-Cola Bulawayo champions shield
For Magwegwe, they defeated Pumula and Sobukhazi by identical 3-1 score lines to finish on top of their group. They overpowered Luveve 3-0 in the quarterfinals prior to conquering Townsend 4-0 in the semifinals.
Mapungwana, the coach who was in charge when Mpopoma finished as runners up at last year’s national finals held in Zvishavane expressed her delight with what transpired at Gifford. She vowed to bring the national trophy to Bulawayo.
“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.
Last year, Mpopoma had their girls and boys teams representing Bulawayo at the COPA Coca-Cola national finals. There is still a possibility of that happening again as the Mpopoma boys are competing in the Bulawayo finals at Gifford on Friday where they are the defending champions.
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