A WEEK after ending a seven-year wait to beat arch-rivals Dynamos in the Satle Lager Premier Soccer League, CAPS United seek to keep the momentum going when they return to their home base, the National Sports Stadium, for a date with bottom club Border Strikers this afternoon.
BY MUNYARADZI MADZOKERE
The win against DeMbare was never easy, but Green Machine coach Lloyd Chitembwe believes his high-flying side, currently on second place on the log standings, need to replicate the hunger and desire they have shown so far this season to beat the visitors from Beitbridge.
“We have an unquenchable thirst to do well in the next game, so we are not really looking at what we have done in the last game. As long as we can retain the same kind of desire and hunger, we can go on and do well in the coming games, particularly today,” Chitembwe said.
CAPS United needed a solitary Dominic Chungwa second half strike to compound DeMbare’s misery and claim the Harare Derby bragging rights. The Green Machine also asserted themselves among the favourites for the 2016 Castle Lager Premier League title.
They managed to weather the storm off the field of play after two of their players, former captain Method Mwanjali and midfielder Archford Gutu, were arrested three weeks ago to win against Harare City and Dynamos respectively.
Border Strikers, coached by Warriors assistant coach Saul Chaminuka, lost all the four matches so far on their return into top-flight football and should be an easier proposition for CAPS United.
“They [Border Strikers] are a very good team. They are not here by chance, they deserve to be where they are. There are no small teams in the league and we will try and do what we have been doing in the past weeks, if not months, working very hard to keep winning games,” the Makepekepe coach said.
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Chitembwe — who boasts about the quality and depth in his squad — is set to make a few changes to the team that started against Dynamos.
In the absence of captain Moses Muchenje, who is out injured, Gutu, who appears to be the one who scored the winner against Dynamos in the goals’ video footage, is certain to make his first start in green and white stripes.
Defender Carlton Munzambwa was part of the CAPS United press conference team this week and could also get the nod to also make his first start, with the coach looking to rotate his squad.
Tafadzwa Rusike will also miss the match today, with Stephen Makatuka taking up the captain’s armband.
Chaminuka admitted they faced a mountainous task against one of the in-form teams in the league.
“It’s a tough match for us, but who knows what can happen? We are prepared for the game and it has been difficult for us so far, but we could be bouncing back to get our first set of points,” he said.
It’s a totally different story for Dynamos who lost in the Harare derby to CAPS United for the first time in seven years and had their best player so far, Valentine Ndaba, involved in a career-threatening car crash, all in a space of two days.
The beleaguered Harare giants make the long trip to the Colliery to face Hwange with a coach who is living on borrowed time and without Ndaba, who has since been discharged from hospital, as well as midfielder Masimba Mambare.
Dynamos have been firing blanks in three of their four matches so far and are in desperate need of a win that could determine coach Paulo Jorge Silva’s future.
Team manager Richard Chihoro said the players had taken it upon themselves to start winning games and ease pressure on the technical department.
“The players themselves want to win the match against Hwange and they also want to take responsibility for the way things are going for the club. They are very motivated by the way they played against CAPS United, despite failing to score goals.
So they want to get the three points at all costs,” he said.
Silva and his staff were given a three-match ultimatum in which they were supposed to collect all nine points available, but last week’s defeat meant they would not be able to meet that target.
The DeMbare executive seems keen to give more time to the Portuguese mentor and will, for the umpteenth time, meet on Tuesday to decide on the fate of the controversial coach.
Today’s Fixtures: Hwange v Dynamos (Colliery), CAPS United v Border Strikers (National Sports Stadium), Highlanders vs Chapungu (Barbourfields), Triangle v ZPC Kariba (Gibbo), Mutare City Rovers v How Mine (Sakubva)
