Shambolic start for Harare giants
CAPS United coach Lloyd Chitembwe was left to rue missed opportunities in his team’s defeat to Chicken Inn, as the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League season got off to a disappointing start for all the teams in Harare at the weekend.
Makepekepe, who were forced to host the Gamecocks in Gweru due to the unavailability of an approved stadium in Harare.
They lost the match 1-0. Fellow giants Dynamos were away to traditional foes Highlanders where they went down 1-2 at Barbourfields while Khama Billiat’s Yadah were also humbled 0-1 in Hwange.
The only other Premiership team from Harare this season, Herentals, were inactive as they are yet to know their opponents for this opening fixture because of the delays in resolving the contentious promotion saga in the ZIFA Eastern Region.
There were no celebrations in Harare from last week after the ZIFA First
Instance Body could not homologate Rufaro for football to return to the capital once again.
CAPS United had hoped for at least a partial homologation of the venue in time for their opening fixture but due to the inadequacies in the fundamentals, the ground could not be considered.
The Green Machine had no choice but to travel 278km to Gweru to play their home game. Their opponents travelled 165km from Bulawayo to the venue.
Defender Itai Mabhunu scored the only goal of the match late in the first half and Lloyd Chitembwe’s men could not find a response despite having dominated the match from the start.
The defeat was a huge dent although Chitembwe believes his team can still build from the positives demonstrated in that match, especially their attacking prowess.
Chicken Inn goalkeeper Donovan Bernard was the difference between his team winning and losing that match, with a string of fine saves that kept the Gamecocks in the game.
“I think what is encouraging is the ability to create opportunities, and this is the most difficult thing in football. So, we take pleasure in that,” said Chitembwe.
“As for conversion, maybe it was only a matter of us not being so lucky. Maybe on a good day, we could probably have converted those chances into goals.
“But it’s still a work in progress. Overall, it’s the performance that matters the most, as far as I am concerned, especially at this stage of the season.”
Makepekepe will play Herentals in their next game, which could take place at Bata again if Rufaro does not get positive news this week.
Fellow giants Dynamos may also be forced to look for an alternative venue this week as they are set to play host to Hwange.
DeMbare is still smarting from the defeat to Bosso. They conceded twice on either side of the half-time break, with Melikhaya Ncube scoring a beauty before Archford Faira doubled the lead. Newboy Alexander Mandinyenya secured the consolation.
DeMbare coach Genesis Mangombe blamed his defence but the coach must also shoulder part of the blame for tinkering too much with his team for such a big game.
Dynamos had five debutants, who were playing the Battle of Zimbabwe for the first time in the starting line-up on Sunday, while the likes of Keith Madera, Elton Chikona, and Emmanuel Paga, key members of his team last season, warmed the bench.
“It’s a game of football. We failed to maintain our lines and we conceded such silly goals. We still have a problem when we fail to defend such kind of goals. We just gave them away, but in football you make mistakes, and you have to correct them and move forward.
“We are now looking forward to our next game. This one is now water under the bridge and it’s a learning curve. We are trying to introduce new players. The good thing we are not playing badly, save for those silly goals,” said Mangombe.
CHEVRONS captain, Sikandar Raza’s stint at the 2024 Pakistan Super League T20 cricket tournament came to an end on Sunday as his Lahore Qalandars concluded their round-robin matches with another agonising defeat.
Qalandars finished bottom of the six-team league with just one win from 10 matches with eight defeats and one no-result. That was not good enough for the play-offs and Raza was making his way out, getting ready for the more prestigious Indian Premier League, IPL.
Qalandars went into Sunday’s final match against Quetta Gladiators already out of running for the playoffs but put up a brave fight before suffering a six-wicket defeat off the final ball.
Defending 166/4 in which Raza was unbeaten on six runs from five balls, Qalandars had restricted the Gladiators to 153/3 at the end of the 19th over and 163/4 with one ball remaining.
However, Mohammad Wasim smashed a six off Shaheen Shah Afridi to secure victory. It was a heartbreaking conclusion for Afridi who conceded 16 runs off the final over having conceded just 25 runs in his previous three overs.
With the win, the Gladiators secured a place in the playoffs with 11 points from nine matches and will still have to play one more match before discovering their final ranking as there are three teams tied on 11 points.
After the match, Raza thanked and bade farewell to all stakeholders.
“Not the results we wanted but plenty of lessons learned and memories made. Thank you and @lahoreqalandars for this year @ thePSLt20 #inshAllah be back soon Lastly thank you to fans for showing us love and support in difficult times,”said Raza on his X account. Raza finished the tournament with 91 runs from eight innings at an average of 15.16 and also claimed seven wickets.