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NewsDay

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Chunga quits Caps United

Sport
Moses Chunga has resigned as Caps United Football Club coach. He is set to be replaced by former Monomotapa and Kiglon gaffer Maxwell Takaendesa Jongwe, who could be assisted by former Warriors striker Alois Bunjira and national team goalkeepers’ coach Richard Tswatswa. Assistant coach Brenna Msiska has also left the club. Chunga made the decision […]

Moses Chunga has resigned as Caps United Football Club coach.

He is set to be replaced by former Monomotapa and Kiglon gaffer Maxwell Takaendesa Jongwe, who could be assisted by former Warriors striker Alois Bunjira and national team goalkeepers’ coach Richard Tswatswa.

Assistant coach Brenna Msiska has also left the club. Chunga made the decision during a meeting with the club’s leadership: director of operations Farai Jere, club president Twine Phiri and chief executive Maxwell Mironga.

Said Mironga last night: “He resigned this morning (yesterday) after he stated to us that the conditions and environment did not allow him to execute his duties freely. He asked us to allow him to resign from the club.

“It came as a shock to us. Yes, results were not coming and we said we needed to work as a team, to soldier on. We were going through a bad patch and we were hopeful that fortunes would change, but (he) insisted that he should be allowed to resign.”

On replacements, Mironga said: “Those (Jongwe, Bunjira and Tswatswa) are top of the list, but there are two other guys that we are having tomorrow (Tuesday).”

Chunga’s mobile phone was not reachable last night.

Matters though seemed to come to a head on Sunday following the 1-0 loss to Highlanders in a BancABC Sup8r quarter-final at Baghdad Stadium on Sunday.

The previous week Caps United had lost 1-0 to Dynamos in a Harare Derby at the National Sports Stadium.

In the league race, they lie in sixth place with 21 points, one and two points behind bitter rivals Dynamos and Highlanders respectively and eight behind new leaders FC Platinum with 16 games of the season to go.

Chunga started the season on fire scoring 14 goals in three matches after massacres over Zimbabwe Saints (5-3), Shooting Stars (5-2) and Shabanie Mine (4-0).

The next five games were a seesaw; he lost 2-0 to Blue Ribbon, drew 1-1 against Black Mambas, beat Chicken Inn 1-0, lost 2-0 to Motor Action before a 2-2 home draw against Platinum Stars.

Two losses in a row put him under the spotlight—1-0 against Highlanders and Hwange — before they thumped Kiglon 5-1. He silenced Caps United supporters with a 4-1 win over Masvingo before they drew 0-0 against Monomotapa.

The two disasters against Dynamos and Highlanders confirmed the end of his exploits with the Green Machine.

At Baghdad on Sunday, Highlanders played the better part of the match with 10 men after Lawson Nkomo was shown the red card after Vincent Nzombe had been rushed to hospital following a collision with Luckmore Simango. His replacement Njabulo Ncube struggled in front of goal before skipper Gilbert Banda once again played the true captain’s role with the winner.

But what is clearly telling is that Caps United—according to the Sunday line-up—had better players than Highlanders. Perhaps, they needed something more than better players, something more than quality and perhaps, something more than Chunga — confidence.

With Gilbert Mapemba, Charles Chiutsa, Nyasha Mukumbi, Marvel Samaneka, Clive Kawinga, Pride Tafirenyika, Washington Pakamisa and Douglas Walaza, Caps clearly had better players than Highlanders who had young Xolani Ncube in the team and the ageing trio of Bekithemba Ndlovu, Innocent Mapuranga and Gift Lunga.

The Bulawayo giants had Njabulo Ncube off duty, Louis Matawu, Misheck Mburayi and Ariel Sibanda missing from the line-up, but still managed to grab a win and defend resolutely after scoring three minutes into stoppage time of the first half.

Technically, the decisive moment was the introduction of Ndlovu in the second half for Arnold Tshuma to add his experience while letting the pair of Simon Munawa and man-of-the-match Erick Mudzingwa run rings around Caps’ attacking plan.

The absence of midfield grafter Stephen Alimenda and striker Evans Gwekwerere, who was down with flu, did not help matters either.