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Sikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter
The sixth edition of the African Union Sports Council Region 5 Under-20 Youth Games kick off in Bulawayo this afternoon with four football matches set for Luveve and Barbourfields stadia.Hosts, Zimbabwe’s Young Warriors, will get the ball rolling with a date against Mozambique at Barbourfields Stadium while regional powerhouse and defending champions South Africa will play Zambia at Luveve Stadium. Both matches kick-off at 2PM.

Zimbabwe’s Young Mighty Warriors, under the tutelage of former Mighty Warriors stalwart Sithethelelo Kwinji 15 Sibanda will take on Namibia soon after their male counterparts at Barbourfields Stadium with South Africa’s Basetsara taking on Botswana at Luveve Stadium. The women’s matches kick-off at 4:30PM.

Young Warriors, under youthful coach Tafadzwa Mashiri, will want to start the tournament on a high note and will enjoy the added advantage of the 12th man on the stands and with the preliminary rounds free of charge, Emagumeni is sure set to be full to the brim as fans will also want to get a glimpse of the new look stadium.

Highlanders trio of goalkeeper Tatenda Ndlovu, Ishmael Munsaka and Bukhosi Ncube, Bantu Rovers’ Denzel Khumalo, Bukhosi Sibanda both registered in the Premier League, Thembalethu Mthunzi and Lesley Lunga will be some of the boys that Zimbabwe will look up to.

At Luveve, it’s a repeat of the final two years ago and losing finalists Zambia have a perfect opportunity to take revenge on Amajita, who beat them 1-2.

Zambia and South Africa are also using the Region 5 Games to prepare for the 11th edition of the Caf 2015 Under-17 African Youth championship in Niger set for May.

Zambia are led by coach Hector Chilombo, who also looks after the national Under-20 side and said recently he was looking to make up for missing out on the gold medal to South Africa when Zambia hosted the tournament two years ago.

“We only have three players from the team that played the qualifiers because the age limit for this tournament is 1997. We’ll have no problems working with the players as most of them have worked with us before and know our philosophy,” he told reporters.

“Our target is to go and win the top prize after missing out in 2012 when we hosted the Games. The tournament will be tough but we’ll work hard to win in Zimbabwe.”

Zambia is in Group B along with South Africa, Namibia and Lesotho, while Group A has hosts Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Angola and Swaziland. Seychelles were in Group B but pulled out citing financial reasons.

Top two sides from each group advance to the semi-finals which are set for December 13.

The women’s competition is played in a round-robin competition with winners of the mini-league getting gold.

Fixtures:

Today

Men
Zimbabwe v Mozambique (Barbourfields, 2PM), Zambia v South Africa (Luveve 2PM).

Women
Namibia v Zimbabwe (Barbourfields 4.30PM), South Africa v Botswana (Luveve 4.30PM).