MADZIWA-BASED Premier Soccer League newcomers Mushowani Stars have been conspicuous by their silence on their pre-season activity ahead of a maiden dance in topflight football.
BY MUNYARADZI MADZOKERE
Perhaps they are still winding up “elaborate”celebrations after finally bringing premiership football back to Mashonaland Central.
But unbeknown to many, the 2018 Northern Region Division One champions have lofty goals.
Their agenda is simple: to win all competitions on offer and represent the country on the African safari next season.
Unlike other newcomers who are making relegation survival top priority, Mushowani are gunning for the league and cup double in their first season.
No team has won the league title in their first attempt since Black Rhinos in 1985 and one wonders what gives Mushowani such confidence.
“We want to win all the cups this season and go on to represent the country in Africa. That’s what we are thinking about as a club and I believe we can achieve it in our first season,” club director Lovemore Zava Nyakasoka told Standardsport.
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“We are not afraid of all those big names in the premier league. We have played against the likes of Dynamos, CAPS United, Highlanders and other top teams and I can say that they are just like every other team we have played.”
Mushowani draws inspiration from defunct former Bindura premiership moneybags, Mwana Africa, who stormed into the Premier Soccer League in 2006 and won the CBZ Cup, proceeding to represent Zimbabwe in the CAF Confederation Cup.
However, Mushowani are yet to commence pre-season training and are currently in search of a coach who can suit their ambitious plans, since Levison Selous, who was in charge of the team last season, does not have a CAF A licence.
The club is also frantically trying to refurbish Bindura’s Trojan Mine Stadium so that they can use it as their home ground.
And according to Nyakasoka, the club has been quietly beefing up the squad with negotiations and interviews for new player still going on.
“We will begin training around 22 January. At the moment we are busy beefing up the squad. We are building a very strong squad which is going to surprise a lot of people. It’s just that we are not going for the big names,” he said. Nyakasoka hopes that Trojan Mine Stadium will be homologated by the Premier Soccer League (PSL) so that they can play closer to home for the benefit of their fans.
“I think it’s best that the PSL allow us to use Trojan Mine for the benefit of the rural folk who have never watched Premier Soccer League football. Our promotion has been celebrated in areas such as Mt Darwin, Rushinga, Shamwa, Mvurwi as well as Centenary and the entire Mashonaland Central province,” he said.
“Some people are even calling us to say they will be coming to sleep in Bindura on the eve of match days if we use Trojan in order to enjoy super league action.”
Also known as Vakanyairi, emanating from their curious logo showing a baboon with a football and refereeing to a baboon’s bossy gait, Mushowani was established in 2011 in the Madziwa nickel mining community.
The dream was to bring top-flight football back to Mashonaland Central and the dream has been achieved.
Some of the players who starred in Mushowani’s successful Division One campaign include Sunny “Mafirimu” Savare, Webster Tafa, Cheusi Nyakope and Blessing Phiri to mention, but a few.
Nyakasoka believes a number of Mushowani players such as Mafirimu deserve to play in Europe.
“Mafirimu is easily the best leftback in the country and he deserves to be playing in Europe. We also have a number of unknown players who deserve to be playing abroad,” he said.
