The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
FIVE Zimbabwean youngsters, all from Academy 2063 have been given an opportunity to impress Sporting Lisbon scouts after they were invited for fine tuning sessions at Sporting Clube de Portugal Soccer School in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Alvin Dube, Oscar Magejo, Ronald Uraya, Claivert Tshuma and Talent Mwenga are the youngsters invited for the training sessions which started yesterday and will run up to 20 December. Initially, the five lads were meant to attend the sessions from 2 to 13 December but the dates had to change since three of them were part of the Zimbabwean team which took part in the Copa Coca-Cola Africa Cup in Thika, Kenya which ran from Monday to Thursday.
Dube, Uraya and Tshuma were in the Zimbabwean team that took part in the Coca-Cola Africa Cup where Zimbabwe were beaten by Tanzania in the final. Regis Dzenga, the founder and president of Academy 2063, who is accompanying the youngsters to South Africa, said the boys have an opportunity to go for trials at Sporting Lisbon in Portugal if they do impress during the sessions in Johannesburg.
Dzenga indicated that they were working with boys under the age of 16 so as to expose them to rigorous technical growth with the hope that they will become professional players.
“The idea is that successful ones get an opportunity for trials at Sporting Lisbon in Portugal. We are working with Under-16 boys to give them a couple of years of intensive technical development before hopefully turning pro,’’ Dzenga said.
While Magejo of Rusununguko has already turned 16, Dzenga indicated the lad was invited for the sessions since he is a special case because of his talent. Magejo, a Copa Coca-Cola winner in 2017 was the player of the tournament when his school won the Proton-Surrey national Under-20 tournament at Marondera High School in October.
