The curtain finally came down on the 2018 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League season with the crowning of Rodwell Chinyengetere as the 2018 Soccer Star of the Year.
insidesport with MICHAEL KARIATI
It was a season that confirmed the shift of the balance of football power from the northern region to the southern region with three of the top four-placed teams — FC Platinum, Chicken Inn and Triangle — all coming from the southern region and only Ngezi Platinum Stars — who finished second — being based in the northern region.
The season also confirmed the end of the dominance of the traditional giants, CAPS United, Dynamos and Highlanders — who were nowhere close to the leading pack with Bosso way off in fifth place while Makepekepe were in eighth place and Dynamos struggling to reach 11th position.
In fact, the so-called Glamour Boys could have been relegated had it not been for a change of coaches towards the end of the campaign that saw them escape demotion just like they did in 2006.
The gap between the most popular football team in the country and the title winners was a massive 36 points, while the bridge between fifth-placed Highlanders and FC Platinum was 27 points, with Caps United 30 points below Kugona Kunenge Kudada.
Also taken from the traditional powerhouses was the Chibuku Super Cup that went to Taurayi Mangwiro’s Triangle after overcoming the tournament’s most successful team, Harare City, in the final.
In fact, none of CAPS United, Dynamos or Highlanders have won the Chibuku Super Cup since it was introduced and, worse still, have failed to reach the final.
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Lost to the Premiership are Shabanie Mine, Mutare City Rovers, Bulawayo City and Nichrut, who will have to conjure something out of the ordinary to return to the apex of Zimbabwean football in future.
However, their loss is the gain of others as the Premiership will next year feature four newcomers — Mushowani, TelOne, Hwange, and Luke Masomere’s Manica Diamonds, who too will have to produce something more astounding than what they did in Division One to maintain their place in the top flight.
It was a season that saw the league leadership change hands on numerous occasions, but at the end it was Norman Mapeza’s FC Platinum who carried the day after Ngezi Platinum Stars surrendered their title challenge by firing coach Tonderai Ndiraya.
It was a season that also proved that money and astute leadership pays off rather than popularity. All the top four teams — FC Platinum, Ngezi Platinum Stars, Chicken Inn and Triangle — are fully sponsored by the corporate sector, while those owned by the community or individuals struggled heavily.
As the off-season arrives, the likes of Dynamos, Caps United and Highlanders will have to devise means to close the gap between themselves and the likes of FC Platinum, Ngezi Platinum Stars and Chicken Inn as that gap is widening by the year.
It would be saddening to see Bosso, DeMbare or Makepekepe struggling again in the manner in which Dynamos was being hit left, right, and centre in the 2018 season.
Zimbabwean football fans, however, will be starved of top-flight football action for some time as the Premier Soccer League has decided to align the Zimbabwean soccer programme with the rest of the world. The season will now begin in August and end in May, that is, if matches are not disrupted by rain.
However, football followers will have something to be entertained with should the Warriors qualify for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations or should FC Platinum progress further in the CAF Champions League.
However, Kugona Kunenge Kudada’s performance against Cnaps of Madagascar does not look encouraging. Zimbabwean football followers expected more than the 1-0 home win over one of the minnows of African football.
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