Matawu boost for Chicken Inn

Clemence MATAWU

Veteran midfielder Clemence Matawu is part of the Chicken Inn squad that is set to take on crack South African outfit Mamelodi Sundowns in a Caf Champions League preliminary round second leg encounter on Saturday night.

Matawu, who missed the first leg as he was still recovering from injury, replaced Canaan Nkomo in the 18-man squad that will travel to South Africa on Wednesday afternoon.

The Gamecocks carry a 1-0 lead into the second leg encounter which is set for the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Pretoria and their head coach Joey Antipas is hoping for a positive result that will see them through to the next round.

Joey ANTIPAS

“One thing we know is that we will have our work cut out by a Sundowns side that will be baying for our blood. For us to get a positive result we have to once again come up with a great performance like we did in the first leg,” said Antipas.

Chicken Inn are expected in South Africa on Wednesday afternoon and team secretary Tawengwa Hara said they have lined up some training sessions under floodlights since the match will be played at night.

Tawengwa HARA

“The team is leaving early for South Africa so that they can have time to train under floodlights which was not possible here because the charges we were asked to pay were very exorbitant,” Hara said.

The Chicken Inn official said the reigning Castle Premiership champions were asked to part with nearly $4 000 to train under floodlights at Barbourfields.

Plans to train at the Khumalo Hockey Stadium, where the charges are lower, were scuppered by the poor state of the playing surface at the facility.

The winner of the preliminary round encounter between the Gamecocks and Amasandawana will face Congolese outfit AC Leopards in the first round.

Chicken Inn squad

Goalkeepers:

Elvis Chipezeze, Pride Zendera.

Defenders:

Passmore Bernard, Divine Lunga, Lawrence Mhlanga, Moses Jackson, Ben Nyahunzvi.

Midfielders:

Danny Phiri, Brian Juru, Tafadzwa Kutinyu, Clemence Matawu, Thabani Goredema, Physwell Madhazi, George Majika, Edmore Chirambadare.

Strikers:

Obidiah Tarumbwa, Michelle Katsvairo and Moses Demera.

   

Youngsters impress in Bosso win

The decision to not go into the market for seasoned players may turn out to be a masterstroke by Highlanders Football Club after graduates from their development side stole the show during the Bulawayo Football Festival on Sunday.

Prince Dube

Centre striker Prince Dube (19) scored the solitary goal that earned Highlanders victory over Bulawayo City in the final of the four - team festival while 21 – year old Brian Banda was on target in the semi – final victory over How Mine.

Brian Banda

Banda’s strike however, was cancelled out by How Mine new signing Toto Banda and the match had to be decided by a penalty shoot-out that Highlanders won 4 – 2.

Adrian Silla

20 – year old Adrian Silla, who joined the Bosso development side mid season last year and helped the team win promotion into the Southern Region Soccer League after coming second in the second division last year, put up some eye catching performances after coming on as a substitute in both games and capped a fine afternoon by providing the assist for Dube’s winner in the final.

Dube, a product of journalist Lee Mangena’s Street Set Football Club, was the top goal scorer in the Bulawayo Province Division 2 league last season with 20 goals to his credit.

 Amini – Soma Phiri, who was in charge of Highlanders while Dutchman Erol Akbay watched from the stands, was full of praise for the youngsters.

Erol Akbay,right, with from left Marko Dube, Cosmas Zulu and Melusi Sibanda

“Like the chairman indicated, we cannot afford to buy players so we are going to build the team from the youngsters that we have. The boys are showing a lot of positives especially this young boy Prince Dube, he has something special and I think that he will give us a lot if he does not get injured,” Soma - Phiri said.

On their way to the final Bulawayo City beat Tsholotsho 3-1 after a penalty shoot-out.

The match had ended in a goalless stalemate during regulation time.

Bulawayo City coach Philani Ncube said he did not read much into the results of the matches as the goal was to get his team ready for the season.

Philani Ncube and Amini Soma - Phiri

“It’s not about the results as we are working on the four fundamentals, the technique, the tactics, the physiology and the psychology. 


We are almost done with the physical part and we are now working on incorporating the technic/tactic and then later on we will move on to the psychological part,” Ncube said.

Themba Sibanda, Kelvin Kaindu and Bekithemba Ndlovu

New How Mine coach Kelvin Kaindu said his team is still far from being in good physical condition and only took part in the festival to support Highlanders who are turning 90 years old this year.

“We had to adjust our programme considering when the season is starting (April) because we realised that if we do the six – week periodisation cycle, we would have been ahead before the season starts so we have not done much of the practical side but we have been doing the theory,” Kaindu said.

Tsholotsho head coach Lizwe Sweswe said taking part in the Bulawayo Football Festival had helped him judge the mental strength of some of the youngsters who are trying their luck at his side.

Xolani, Lizwe Sweswe and Mkhando

“These games have been very helpful because while you can work on the tactical and technical aspects of the game with these players, it is only during such matches that one can gauge their mental aptitude,” Sweswe said.

Giacomo Ratto

Iziqholo zeZhwane featured Italian keeper Giacomo Ratto in their penalty shoot-out loss to Bulawayo City.

Highlanders headline Bulawayo Football Festival

Football fans in the City of Kings and Queens are in for a treat this Sunday when Highlanders, Bulawayo City, Tsholotsho and How Mine clash at Barbourfields Stadium in a tournament that has been dubbed the Bulawayo Football Festival.

The festival is being organised by all the four clubs involved with the idea being to try and fund raise and also give teams a chance to gauge how far they have gone in terms of preparing for the 2016 season.

Gate charges have been pegged at $2 for the rest of the ground while tickets for the wings will cost $3 and entry into the VIP section will cost $5.

The tournament draw will be conducted at Barbourfields at 09:00 hrs.

Highlanders have been seeded meaning the other three teams will go into the hat with the first two teams to be picked playing each other in the first match at10 o’clock and then Bosso will play the remaining team in the second match.

The winners of the first two games will then proceed to the finals while the losers will take part in a third place play-off.

Proceeds from the festival will be shared equally between the four teams with the tournament winners also earning bragging rights over their city rivals.

Highlanders FC secretary general Emmett Ndlovu

Highlanders secretary general Emmett Ndlovu said they were taking the tournament seriously as it provides an opportunity for Bosso to gauge their strength.

“The guys are really taking it seriously as they know that at the beginning of the season this is where you measure yourself against these guys that are also trying to be counted among the big boys of local football. 
Our technical has been working flat out to ensure that we come nothing short of victory and I can confirm that our new coach Erol Akbay will be part of out technical team on Sunday,” Ndlovu said.

Bulawayo City FC chairman Jerry Sibanda

Bulawayo City chairman Jerry Sibanda said he is confident that his team will emerge victorious as they are the best prepared.

“We have one of the most seasoned coaches in the country in Philani Beefy Ncube and we want to see how he has prepared for the 2016 season. 

I am very confident because no other team is as prepared as Bulawayo City, we are more prepared than even our brothers (Highlanders) and on Sunday we are going to beat our brothers and later on say sorry brother, you are just not prepared,” Sibanda said.

Tsholotsho FC chairman Mlamuli Phiri

Tsholotsho chairman Mlamuli Phiri said the tournament is bound to foster unity among the teams taking part.

“It will be a sweet time. We have met two of the teams that will be part of the tournament when we played them in the Premier League last year. 
We were beaten by Highlanders twice and hopefully on Sunday it will be a time for us to say; feel us! We will approach the games as friends because we are one people in Bulawayo,” said Phiri.

Bosso treasurer Donald Ndebele implored fans to come in their numbers and enjoy the football fiesta.

Highlanders FC treasurer Donald Ndebele

“I would like to invite the soccer loving Bulawayo public to come in large numbers because if you are to watch four games for $2 it means that on average you will have paid 0.50 cents per match. 
This is an opportunity to financially support these teams and the teams should also use the chance to showcase upcoming talent,” Ndebele said.

Bosso coach Akbay finally arrives

     

Dutchman Erol Akbay has finally arrived in the country to assume the position of head coach at Highlanders football club.

The Bosso clubhouse was Akbay’s first port of call upon his arrival in Bulawayo for a session with the local media before he proceeded to Barbourfields Stadium where the Highlanders senior team was training.

Highlanders chief executive officer Ndumiso Gumede took time to clarify the circumstances behind Akbay’s delay in coming into the country to take up one of the toughest jobs on the local football scene.

He said: “It’s only a pleasure to have Mr Erol Akbay with us. It has taken a long time for him to come but I think want to put you at ease because there were now insinuations of incompetence, on of his late appointment. He might be able to talk for himself, but as early as late October (2015) we had decided it would be him. I hope you are not offended Erol - but he was asking for an arm and a leg for his salary and we told him we are a poor club. I know it is difficult for people to understand how Highlanders is a poor club but we started off by negotiating salaries until we got to a level when we said now we can manage. That took time and once we got over the hurdle of salaries we then began the paperwork. He brought us all the papers but they were all in Dutch. We had asked him to get those papers certified but some were not and we had to get the papers to the Dutch embassy in Harare for them to do the translation for us.

They were magnanimous enough to accept the papers, read through them and I think convince themselves that there was nothing that could damage the image of the Dutch embassy, and then nicely said no, we do not do translations, there are your papers and go try Roosevelt Girls High School where there is a Dutch national and that is the person who did the translation, but the papers still needed certification and we ended up going a little higher after the embassy also declined to do that. Those are the things that took long.”

Akbay, who signed a two – year contract with Highlanders, promised to bring an exciting brand of football to Tshilamoya.

“I am very happy to be here because I am very excited to start work. Highlanders is a big club of course and has to compete for the championship and what I want to give to Highlanders is very nice, fast football and we will see what will happen this year,” Akbay said.

Amini Soma – Phiri is the assistant coach at Highlanders and has been taking the team through their paces alongside technical advisor Cosmas Zulu in the Dutchman’s absence.

Veteran coach Zulu also doubles up as the goalkeepers’ trainer.

Akbay though, revealed that he had not availed the pre – season training programme to Phiri and Zulu and said the proper programme will only get underway now that he is here.

He, however, said he would be guided by Phiri and Zulu on identifying the key players to build his team around.

The Dutch coach’s contract is performance based and Gumede said the club will be content with a top four finish in his first year as he will be still finding his feet.

“In the first year we are expecting that in the first 10 games he should be staying with the leading pack and get a minimum of sixty percent of achievement. It may sound steep, but we are not a small club and he has already accepted that we are a big club. If by the end of the year he finishes in the top four, we will deem that he has done reasonably well. As administration of course we have different expectations from the man in the street who expects hundred. The man in the street thinks all those 15 other clubs are just making up the numbers and the correct club that should take the championship is his. The tricky year is his second as there will be no excuses because he would have acclimatised to the environment in Zimbabwe and he would have had two chances to bring in his own players - during mid season in 2016 and at the beginning of 2017. The big cake certainly must come in the second year but did I say we don’t want to win the league in 2016? No! If he can win it in 2016 then I am sure I can ask one of my sisters to come back from marriage and we can give him a second wife,” Gumede said.

     

Its advantage Chicken Inn!

 

Zimbabwean champions Chicken Inn put up a disciplined performance to edge crack South African outfit Mamelodi Sundowns 1 – 0 in a CAF Champions League preliminary round first leg encounter at Barbourfields Stadium on Saturday.

 

 With the Castle Premiership still in off-season, the Gamecocks knew that going toe to toe with the Absa Premiership log leaders would be suicidal and relied on the counter with their back four always in position.

In his post - match interview, Gamecocks head coach Joey Antipas said the 1-0 score line was a bonus for him as their target had been a scoreless draw.

“To tell you the truth we went out to try and play for nil nil but we managed to get one nil up against quality opponents like Sundowns. I am very chuffed about the win and proud about the way the boys maintained tactical discipline and it’s a good win for the team. We gave Sundowns all the ball to play but closed them down in critical areas and the boys really put up a good show,” Antipas said.

 

 

His Sundowns counterpart Pitso Mosimane attributed his team’s lethargic performance to a congested fixture schedule.

“We didn’t have the legs for this match hence we couldn’t even catch the rhythm. It was difficult for us as we didn’t have the energy to up it up a little bit and the difficult thing is that we got a few injuries and I thought my important players – Khama (Billiat), and (Keegan) Dolly must come off because we still have a long way to go,” Mosimane said.

 

 

 

It was clear from the onset that Sundowns wanted to use the flanks to breach the Chicken Inn rear guard, with their wingbacks pushing up every time they were in possession, but the hosts’ wide midfielders took care of that threat by tracking back and assuming defensive positions.

And after successfully keeping Sundowns at bay in the opening stages, the hosts threatened to open the scoring on five minutes, with Obidiah Tarumbwa and Edmore Chirambadare combining to launch a raid.

Another quick attack by Chicken Inn had Sundowns keeper Wayne Sandilands flailing on 13 minutes and moments later the former Platinum Stars keeper raised questions about his competence when he failed to hold on to a weak shot by George Majika and conceded a corner kick.

The strategy to try and catch the visitors on the break finally paid off for Chicken Inn on 34 minutes when Michelle Katsvairo finished off a counter attacking move that was started by left back Devine Lunga and involved Tafadzwa Kutinyu.

Lunga won the ball deep in his own half and passed it to Kutinyu who in turn released Katsvairo and the former FC Platinum striker left Downs defender Wayne Arendse for dead before riffling it past Sandilands to open the scoring.

After the break Sundowns brought in Zimbabwean striker Cuthbert Malajila for Teko Modise but that change failed to bring any dividends as the home team continued to deny the visitors any openings.

In the second half Chicken Inn defended deep and would form defensive lines as soon as they lost possession.

This denied Sundowns the opportunity to play the ball behind the hosts’ defence and while they enjoyed the bulk of the possession, their play was restricted to the periphery of the final third.

The hosts continued to make sporadic raids on the break and Chirambadare saw his stinger punched over the bar and out for a corner by Sandilands after the Warriors striker had been sent through by Lunga on 51 minutes.

Chicken Inn defender Lawrence Mhlanga had to put his body on the line to block a goal bound cracker by Sundowns linkman Mzikayise Mashaba with 10 minutes left on the clock and the hosts held on for a historic win.

The second leg is set for Lucas Moripe Stadium in Pretoria in a fortnight.

 

Pitso banks on Bosso fans

…..as Downs land in Skies

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane hopes Highlanders fans will reciprocate the goodwill shown by his club to Bosso in the past by backing his charges during their Caf Champions League preliminary round tie against Chicken Inn at Barbourfields Stadium on Saturday.

 

Addressing the media soon after the Absa Premiership log leaders touched down at the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport, Mosimane said they felt at home in Bulawayo because of their relationship with Highlanders.

“We are home here, Highlanders they know we are good friends, we have a team manager from here (Peter Ndlovu), we gave Highlanders (Kuda) Mahachi, so I hope all their supporters still remember that  and they will support us because we are brothers. We always land here first when we come to play in Zimbabwe so we are good friends with Highlanders and hope ezimnyama ngenkani zizokuza zizosisapota,” Mosimane said.

 

The former Bafana Bafana coach was quick to dispel the notion that his charges have the upper hand over their hosts since the South African top flight is in full swing while the Zimbabwean premiership is yet to get underway.

“This is a different game in another country and we have to come with respect and understand that Chicken Inn is doing well because for them to take the league from DeMbare after four years is something that we have to understand and respect,” Mosimane said.

“We respect Chicken Inn, we know they are strong, we know they won the league, we know they are a team on form and I think they know everything about us because their coach came to South Africa to do his research – which is fair,” he added.

And to demonstrate that he has also done his homework on the Gamecocks, Mosimane went on to declare his admiration of a number of the home team’s players who he mentioned by name.

These include Warriors players Elvis Chipezeze, Lawrence Mhlanga, Danny Phiri and Edmore Chirambadare. Also getting a mention from Mosimane were veteran Clemence Matawu, dribbling wizard George Majika, Mitchelle Katsvairo and defenders Devine Lunga and Ben Nyahunzvi.

Sundowns come into the Caf Champions League preliminary round first leg encounter just a couple of days after edging Soweto giants Orlando Pirates 2-1 to maintain their stranglehold on the Absa Premiership top spot.

 

 

 

Mosimane admitted that his charges could be feeling the effects of taking part in another match 48 hours after taking part in a big game.

“We don’t come with fresh legs. Unfortunately we had a big game against Orlando Pirates and we did not have enough rest but we are not making any excuses because as professionals we should be able to play after 48 hours and Barbourfields is a good pitch, big enough and we will try and contain them and not kid ourselves that we will win easily,” Mosimane said.

 

Chicken Inn to adopt cautious approach

 

 

 

ZIMBABWE’S representatives in the 2016 CAF Champions League Chicken Inn are likely to adopt a cautious approach when they host in-form South African outfit Mamelodi Sundowns in a preliminary round first leg encounter at Barbourfields on Saturday.

Gamecocks head coach Joey Antipas told journalists at a press conference on Thursday afternoon that his charges would not adopt a cavalier approach against the free scoring South African top flight championship favourites.

“Being it’s our first game we have to go out there and play a cautious game. We cannot go out and charge at them like Red Indians because Sundowns are a very brilliant side and if we take them head on they can expose us. I am not saying that we are going out there to park a bus but we are going out there with a cautious approach,” Antipas said.

 

On the threat posed by Sundowns’ attacking trio of Leonardo Castro, Khama Billiat and Keegan Dolly, the former Motor Action coach said the trick would be to try and cut the supply line to the marauding forwards.

“What we are going to try and do is to cut off the supply line because I believe those guys are good ball players and thrive on a good supply line. Without the supply line those three are not really ball winners or hard workers and if we cut the supply line it will be good for us,” Antipas said.

The Zimbabwean top flight league is in off-season and Chicken Inn prepared for the weekend tie by embarking on a tour of Zambia where they took part in a pre-season tournament that featured Zambian champions Zesco United, Zanaco and Tanzanian outfit Azam.

In their first game Chicken Inn drew 2-2 against Zanaco, then lost 3-1 to Azam before rounding off their tour of duty with a 2-0 loss to Zesco.

Sundowns on the other hand are on a roll in the Absa Premiership and have emerged as the odds on favourites to lift the 2015/16 league title.

 

Castro, Billiat and Dolly - dubbed “Pretoria CBD” – have been the driving force behind Sundowns success on the South African domestic league but the Patrice Motsepe owned outfit also boasts of an array of stars that include former Bafana Bafana star Teko Modise, the combative Hlompo Kekana and experienced Ugandan keeper Dennis Onyango.

Chicken Inn have in their ranks a number of players who were part of the Zimbabwe Warriors’ sojourn at the recent Chan Tournament in Rwanda.