Bosso juniors net record 115 goals… crowned champions without losing a single match

By Ngqwele Dube

HIGHLANDERS’ Under-18 side that plays in the Bulawayo Junior League’s Serie A made history when they became the first team to score a record 115 goals on their way to being crowned champions without losing a single match.

This might come as an encouraging development at Bosso, a club that was renowned for its long history of producing some of the finest talent to grace the Zimbabwe and international football landscape.

Zifa Bulawayo Province board member Mkhululi Mthunzi confirmed the league was yet to witness more than a century of goals being scored by one team in a single season, until Highlanders came along.

Highlanders’ chief striker McCarthy Dube was the toast of the league, a record haul of 36 goals which must make him an envy of the country’s Premiership strikers who are unlikely to even reach half that number at the end of the current campaign.

Dube was complemented by talented attacking linkman and team captain Donnet Fosho who weighed in with 21 goals, right winger Rowan Sibanda finished on 20 while forward Brighton Ncube found the net 17 times.

Highlanders finished the season on 78 points while second placed Bantu Rovers closed their account on 65. Highlanders’ head of development Dumaza Dube praised the boys saying they were a talented bunch with a bright future ahead.

He said they planned meticulously for the season after chief executive officer Ndumiso Gumede challenged the juniors’ technical department to craft a strategy which they penned, fine tuned and implemented, and the rest is history.

Bosso scored 115 goals while only conceding 20 throughout the campaign ending the season with a goal difference of 95.

Bosso’s unyielding defence was made up of former senior team player Bekithemba “Super” Ndlovu’s son Nkosana, the former Bosso’s captain’s younger brother, Mbongeni, Alexius Jubane, and Samson Sakala. Deron, the son of former goalkeepers’ coach, Tembo Chuma, was in between the posts for the campaign.

Dube singled out Bukhosi Ncube and Fosho as being the architects of the campaign and praised the former’s skills saying he was an astute midfielder with great ball winning and distribution skills while the latter was immensely talented.

Dube said another key ingredient to their success was being able to keep the whole squad intact for the past four years as most of the players were part of the squad that won the championship as Under-14s in 2011.

“Keeping the whole squad together for the past four years has also worked to our advantage but the boys are talented and the executive should quickly make moves to secure the boys and ensure they move up the ladder and are retained within the club structures.

“Some people have been saying the club’s junior policy is dead but that is not true, while players have been coming through from the lower structures efforts were not being made to retain them at the higher level hence you find that most teams have one or two players who graduated from Bosso juniors.”

Dumaza said the best way to retain talent was to set up an academy and they had completed the relevant applications forms and a Zifa official assured them that they could pay the requisite $1 000 fee in instalments.

Dumaza said he would recommend six players to the senior team next year while other players would move to the development side that has been promoted to Division One.

Mthunzi said the Highlanders championship winning side reminded him of the class of 2011 that was also coached by Dube which won the league without a loss and included the likes of Knox Mutizwa, Teenage Hadebe, Lawrence Mhlanga and Trevor Ndlovu, among others.

“I am sure Highlanders have learnt their lesson and should make moves to retain the players within their system instead of grooming players only to be forced to loan them from others clubs for the senior team.

“Since the creation of Serie A, the league has been competitive and this year Highlanders was in a class of its own. We first saw their exploits early in the year when they won the Emakhandeni Legends tourney in April without losing a match and we thought it was a fluke but they went on to win the league without a loss,” he said.

Mthunzi appealed for sponsorship to reward the Bosso Under-18 for its exploits adding the team did exceptionally well and it would be an injustice if they were not given some form of recognition such as medals.

Bosso’s other junior teams also did well with the Under-14 also winning their league ahead of Bantu Rovers while the Under-16 took position three on 65 points, same as second placed Mpumelelo who had a superior goal difference while Bantu took the crown with 77 points. The Under-19 developmental side also took position two in the Bulawayo Province Division Two, gaining promotion into the Southern Region Division One League.

Source: Sunday News