Wenslus Murape
Zimpapers Sports Hub
The Zimbabwe Under-20 coach, Shaun De Souza, has released his Junior Sables programme for the 2025 calendar year and one of the standout provisions is a July date for his Junior World Trophy squad.
De Souza’s plan began in October with the launch of the Nedbank Grassroots to Greatness programme, aimed primarily at identifying talent from all parts of the country.
The programme has since seen the Zimbabwe Junior Sables gaffer come up with at least 220 players in his database.
That squad is expected to be trimmed to 130 players today, and then to 110 on December 15.
It is only in 2025 when the team gets down to business, as the Zimbabwe Under-20 technical team will trim the squad two more times, firstly to 90 players on January 19 and then 70 players on February 9.
Once he has his core team, a couple of scrimmage games are lined up against the Outback Barbarians on March 19 and then the traditional Nedbank Challenge
Cup, provisionally slated for March 22 and 29.
The Junior Sables are expected to play two test matches against a Zimbabwe A side, after which De Souza hopes to make his Barthes Trophy squad announcements in April and, more importantly, his Junior World Squad 30-man squad in July.
“We have since completed our Junior Sables plan for the 2025 calendar, and it began in October with our Nedbank Grassroots to Greatness talent identification programme,” said De Souza.
“Yes, the plan goes as far as the Junior World Trophy, and here the thought process was mainly centered on the endgame. By endgame, I mean the Junior World Trophy.
“We failed in our quest to qualify for the prestigious competition this year, losing out to Kenya in the Barthes Trophy, but that is now water under the bridge. Next year, we hope to rectify that.”
Zimbabwe is still smarting from the disappointment of their 13-28 loss to Kenya earlier this year, and De Souza is hoping to follow the adage that goes: One learns more from defeat than from victory.
The Junior Sables gaffer views the disappointment of the home defeat to the East Africans as a learning curve, both for his charges and himself.
“After back-to-back Barthes Trophy titles, the three-peat was always on the tip of everyone’s lips and we took our eyes off the ball,” he said.
“I am on record as saying I was never a fan of having the tournament at home as there were too many variables that we did not have control over.
“We did not have full control of the players; there was the issue of the environment from fans, friends and parents.
“After having experienced that and the defeat on home soil, it was devastating, but there were many lessons to take from it
all.
“We are hopeful that we get to host the tournament again in 2025 and get a chance to redeem ourselves.”
Online Reporter
