A lion roars at Mandava
IN THESE isles, soccer fans are often taken for a ride, paying to watch premier action but getting stuff that is nothing close to that, stuff that would make Pele think of retracting his famous “football is the world’s most beautiful game” statement.
However, once in a while, the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League gives us thrillers, games that give us the “did he just do that moment?”. Games that act as the silver lining to a league that is usually associated with stone age kick and run football.
Clashes between Harare City and FC Platinum rarely disappoint, turning out to be battles of passing attrition.
And last Wednesday, their latest match up at Rufaro, was the stuff that Premiership dreams should be made of. The match saw football purists Mark Harrison and Norman Mapeza pitting wits.
Harrison relishes the clashes with Mapeza, whom he lauds as the coach who teaches his team to play football the way it must be played.
“I have seen that a number of local teams just hoof the ball forward but FC Platinum, obviously, play it very nicely.
“We are in the entertaining business as professional football teams, fans like to see beautiful goals and if you play FC Platinum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Bulawayo Chiefs. . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 NORMAN MAPEZA was far from being pleased with Albert Eonde when FC Platinum fell 0-1 to Harare City during the week.
But the Cameroonian reminded Mapeza and the rest of the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League of how lethal he can be, scoring twice at Mandava yesterday.
The big Cameroonian scored twice in the second half, adding to Kelvin Moyo’s strike to outweigh Perfect Chikwende’s late goal.
The Eonde inspired victory gives the defending champions a four point advantage at the top over Ngezi Platinum Stars who play today.
It was also a perfect revenge for the home side whose only defeat in the first half of the season was an away humbling at Bulawayo Chiefs.
Chiefs reportedly had shambolic preparations to this encounter with regular funder Lovemore Sibanda incapacitated to fund the trip to Zvishavane as he is fighting legal battles.
Their chaotic preparations showed from the onset.
Six minutes into the duel, Eonde was denied from close range by an alert Chiefs goalie David Bizabani.
Midfield hard man Farai Madhanhanga thought he had put the miners ahead after 33 minutes but his effort that hit the underside of the crossbar before dropping to the ground was waved away by the officials.
The services of video assistant referee FC Platinum 3-1 Bulawayo Chiefs Herentals 1-1 Chapungu Mutare City v Ngezi Platinum (Vengere), Nichrut v Yadah (Ascot), Chicken Inn v ZPC Kariba (Luveve) Team P W D L F A GD PTS FC Platinum 24 17 4 3 35 9 25 55 Ngezi Platinum 23 16 3 4 41 15 26 51 Chicken Inn 23 12 8 3 33 16 17 44 Triangle United 23 12 2 9 29 20 9 38 Caps United 23 9 9 5 24 16 8 36 Highlanders 22 10 6 6 21 15 6 36 Harare City 23 8 11 4 21 16 5 35 Black Rhinos 23 8 8 7 19 18 1 32 Herentals 24 7 10 7 14 18 -4 31 Bulawayo Chiefs 24 7 8 9 22 26 -4 29 *ZPC Kariba 23 7 9 7 19 22 -3 27 Yadah FC Stars 23 6 9 8 24 31 -7 27 Dynamos 22 6 8 8 18 23 -5 26 Chapungu 24 6 7 11 18 29 -11 25 Nichrut 23 5 6 12 18 28 -10 21 Mutare City 23 3 6 14 19 32 -13 15 Bulawayo City 23 4 3 16 18 32 -14 15 Shabanie Mine 23 2 9 12 21 47 -26 15 in the right manner, you will create chances and you will score beautiful goals,” the British gaffer said.
But at Rufaro, The Sunshine Boys and Pure Platinum Play did much more than just entertain, they dazzled, they gave some hope to the few fans who had briefly ignored what was playing out at the Constitutional Court.
It gave them hope that one day our game will get back to its entertaining days, days when strikers made dimwits of defenders with nutmegs and devilish trickery.
The match did not yield four goals like the one FC Platinum won 3-1 at Mandava back in April.
However, it made up for the lack of goals with a flawless passing, a chess like battle of tactics and some heated moments on the touchline.
A Moses Muchenje second half penalty settled matters and left Harrison purring “we showed them how football must be played” and Mapeza describing his team as poor, especially in the second half.
But on reflection, Mapeza would be the first to admit that his team lost it when they allowed Muchenje to get into his groove.
Everything Muchenje did just came out right, including an audacious (VAR) would have cleared the confusion but that piece of technology is yet to reach these shores.
Three minutes before halftime, Pure Platinum Play surged ahead through Moyo, with the central defender firing home after the visiting defence had failed to comprehensively clear Rahman Kutsanzira’s corner.
Seven minutes after the breather, Eonde profited from a perfect Kutsanzira pass, shooting on the turn to double FC Platinum’s lead.
The Cameroonian completed his brace on the hour mark, with simple tap-in from another Kutsanzira’s assist.
Chikwende scored a consolation 20 minutes before full-time. A rare lapse in concentration from the reliable Moyo set the forward free and he responded by firing a powerful shot beyond Wallace Magalane.
Mapeza was happy with the response of his players following the midweek defeat suffered in the capital.
“In terms of goals, we had an opportunity to score more goals but at the end of the day I cannot complain, what we wanted was three points and we managed to get the points,” he said.
On Eonde’s performance, Mapeza said, “Look that is his job, we need these guys to be scoring goals. Not only him but everybody in the team needs to score goals. Kelvin scored, that is what we want, for everybody to be involved when we attack and defend.
“I am happy for him, he scored two goals.lt brings his confidence up when we goes to the next game.”
Bulawayo Chiefs coach Garthly Chipuka blamed the defeat on the congested fixture, refusing to go into detail about their chaotic travelling arrangements.
“I would not comment much about the legal challenges but the truth is we were almost in a position where we could have failed to fulfil this match.
“Basically I would blame the loss to a congested fixture, it would have been a welcome development if this game was postponed just like other matches.
“You cannot demand the same intensity from the players when they have played three games in a week. We cannot rotate like these big teams do, they have more depth and quality,” said Chipuka. Teams: — Picture by innocent Makawa
FC Platinum: W Magalane, R Mudhuviwa, W Sitima, G Bello, K Moyo, W Mhango, F Madhanhanga (K Madzongwe 72’), R Chinyengetere (N Tigere 80’), R Kutsanzira (G Mbweti 87), A Sadiki, A Eonde
Bulawayo Chiefs: D Bizabani, S Nyahwa, M Majika (A Musiyiwa 85’), M Mkolo (C Machisi 85’), A Tandi, T Muzuva, G Mleya, F Matare (S Mhlanga 56’), S Ngala, P Chikwende, S Dube Wolves 1-1 Manchester City Arsenal 3-1 West Ham Bournemouth 2-2 Everton Huddersfield 0-0 Cardiff Southampton 1-2 Leicester Liverpool v Brighton & Hove (Played late)
Fixtures
Watford v Crystal Palace 2:30PM Fulham v Burnley 5PM Newcastle v Chelsea 5PM
Tomorrow
Man U v Tottenham 9PM