Herentals squad stays intact
HERENTALS are looking at winning silverware this coming season after managing to keep all but one of their key men from last season.
The Students managed to ring-fence the core of their players from barraging inquiries by different clubs this transfer period.
They could only let go of winger Davison Marowa, who was one of their top performer’s last term, after his contract ran out at the end of last year.
Marowa is now with former champions FC Platinum where he has reunited with ex-Herentals teammate Juan Mutudza.
Besides losing Marowa, the Kumbirai Mutiwekuziva team has stayed intact with every player who helped the Students to a respectable sixth-place finish last year staying put.
If anything, Vabvamburi has added steel to the squad with the acquisition of former Hwahwa and CAPS United player Admiral Matope, Leon Daka from Cranborne as well as goalkeeper Reason White poached from relegated Triangle.
They have also promoted four players from their reserve team, the Herentals Under-20 side that compete in the Northern Region Division One Soccer League.
Top scorer from that team last season with seven goals in just 16 games Tanaka Dhlakama, Webster Dombo, Tinashe Mupumha, and Tinashe Chimanikire have all been elevated to join the big boys.
Seventeen-year-old Ryan Kanavheti has been promoted from the team’s Division 2 club straight to the Premiership side.
And Mutiwekuziva says there won’t be any excuses why Herentals should fail to compete with the best in the league this year.
“As a coach, I am very happy that we managed to retain all the guys we had last season,” said Mutiwekuziva.
“I am very glad because when you have players who you have spent at least a year with, they tend to understand your methods easily.
“They have that institutional memory and I am happy to say that they have all considerably improved in most aspects of their game as compared to the level they were on last season.
“I can say a lot of clubs formally requested to have a number of our players but I would like to thank my team management for making sure that the players remain happy at the club.
“So as we head into the 2024 season, everyone knows what we are aiming for. We have senior players who have seen it all in the football trenches and we can’t finish the season empty-handed.
“We have some players who we had in the first division and they are still around. That means they now understand the philosophy very well and with the complement of the experienced ones who joined when the team was already in the league like last year and years before, we should have reason to believe that we can do it.”
Mutiwekuziva said the team won’t be missing Marowa as they have enough replacements.
“Marowa was a very good player for us last year. He played some key roles but in football, you meet to part and part to meet.
“His time to say goodbye arrived and he is at another club. We have so many options and so many players who can step in,” he said.
The Students also nearly lost one of their best players Soccer Star of the Year finalist Tino Benza to CAPS United before the deal failed to materialize.
The Premiership’s oldest player Innocent “IDB9” Benza, who turns 52 this year is also playing on.
Despite his age, Benza has been an effective member of the squad over the years, and last year he managed to record three assists, two better than Dynamos poster boy Tanaka Shandirwa who had just one.
Of course, Herentals’ bid to keep Wilmore Chimbetu failed with the right-back insisting that he wanted to find a home somewhere else.
Chimbetu spent the past season on loan at Dynamos and he was supposed to revert to Herere.
But after insisting he wanted to go, Herentals were left with no choice but to clear him.
Club secretary general Fainos Madhumbu confirmed the development.
“We have since given Chimbetu his clearance. He was at Dynamos last season on loan,” said Madhumbu.
“So he was supposed to rejoin us this season since he had a running contract until the end of this year. But he kept on asking us to clear him. We don’t have any reason to stand in a player’s way and we had to let go of him.”