Newly-appointed national Under-20 soccer team coach Jairos Tapera may be handed his first assignment before the end of this month after it emerged that Botswana has sent a request to play local junior national teams in international friendlies.
The former FC Platinum coach is one of the major beneficiaries of the national soccer team shake-ups that were effected at Zifa this week.
Tapera, who guided the Zvishavane-based side into the Premiership, took over from Taurai Mangwiro. He will be assisted by Gunners assistant coach George Madira.
Zifa board member (competitions) Benedict Moyo yesterday told NewsDay Sport Botswana had requested to send in four of their junior teams to play Zimbabwe.
He said the matches were supposed to take place this weekend but they had to postpone them due to some internal hitches, chief among them the reshuffling of coaches.
“They (Botswana) have said they want to send in their Under-17s and Under-20s for both women and men teams for friendly matches. We have committed ourselves to revive the junior teams and this should be the first step. We were supposed to host them this weekend, but the person who was handling the issue Jonathan Mashingaidze is away.
“I think the matches will now be played at the end of this month or at the beginning of March,” said Moyo.
The Caf U-17 men African championships qualifiers whose finals will be played in Morocco next year will kick-off in April while the Caf U-20 Youth Championship to be hosted by Algeria will also start in the same month.
