Chakuchichi headed for star

ZIMBABWE Under-17 captain Tadiwanashe Chakuchichi made an impressive start in Scottland colours on Saturday when he was introduced as a second half substitute in the Castle Lager Premiership match against Bikita Minerals at Rufaro.

Chakuchichi turns 16 in June and has been touted for one of the major leagues in the near future and his stint at Scottland might as well expedite the move.

In between playing for Scottland in the Premier Soccer League, Chakuchichi is set to take part in the Pirates Cup in South Africa over the Easter holidays and then the Football 7s in Dubai next month.

And Scottland coach, Tonderai Ndiraya believes Chakuchichi , who emerged from Legends Football Academy, is headed for the stars. 

“Against Bikita Minerals, I think that was the headline of the day, we had a youngster Tadiwanashe Chakuchichi, who is a 15-year-old. It was and has always been Scottland Football Club’s wish to field one of the youngest players in the Premier League.

“And young Chakuchichi played very well if you ask me. You would not think he is 15 years old; he was there competing with the big boys and with right guidance Tadiwa can be a very big, big player.”

Ndiraya has no doubt that Chakuchichi will get more game time this season. 

“Most certainly. If you look at the 20 minutes that he played, he never showed that he is a young boy. So be rest assured that he is going to get more minutes this season. If you look at the average age of our squad, its not pleasing and so Tadiwa will bring that average age index down. 

“We are going to be working on him and giving him more game time and hopefully by the time we hit the midseason break, Tadiwa will be at another level and that is what we are hoping and of course, Nathan as well. Those are the two youngsters we have introduced.

“But we have more, we have another two boys from the national Under-17 squad that we are also working with and hope to introduce in the not-too-distant future. We have Valentine Macheka, he was outstanding at the Cosafa Under-17 tournament in South Africa. We also have Jerrome Muli another very talented boy and he is coming from Victoria Falls. 

“So, we have quite a number of those boys that we are going to be introducing in the next few weeks.”