GWANDA - Despite bowing out at the quarter-final stage of the Copa Coca-Cola girls Under-17 tournament on Saturday, Mabelreign Girls soccer coach Langton Giwa feels his girls have a bright future.

This is the first time that the Harare representatives are taking part at the national level but lost 2-3 to Vimbai on penalties in the last eight.

Giwa, who is the Under-20 national coach said it was a learning curve for them since it was their debut appearance in the tournament.

“The biggest thing for these players is that it was their first time to participate in this tournament. They did not have the experience of how to approach games at this level, so this is what I was trying to teach them. The first game we got chances but we failed to convert but in the second game we came back and won to reach the quarterfinals.

“We got chances again in the quarterfinals but we failed to utilise them again and we found the going tough on penalties. But I believe next year we will be back. I am just starting to work with this school, so as a new coach I have to work on certain aspects.

“The challenge for us I think it was endurance and fear. But the good thing is we have a young team. We will only lose three players from this team next year and the rest will still be around,” said Giwa.

They had finished the runners-up in Group C where they played Thekwane from Matabeleland North and Gotora from Mashonaland East.

Mabelreign lost 1-0 to group leaders Thekwane in their first match but they regrouped to beat Gotora 1-0 to pull through to the quarterfinals.

Their goal scorer against Gotora, Tanaka Sinjani who was also voted player of the match said it was a good experience since they were taking part for the first time.

“I am happy because we have seen a new place and we learnt new skills. We lost but we played well. It was our first time to be here and everyone is happy. We are hoping to come back next year and to win,” said Sinjani.

In the boys section, Churchill, who were Harare’s representatives in the boys Under-16 competition were eliminated in the group stages when they lost 0-1 to Gwanda High and 0-2 to Chemhanza in Group D.