×
NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

ALL FOR CHARITY

Sport
FC PLATINUM and Shabanie Mine will rekindle their football rivalry tomorrow when the two Premiership sides clash in the Cephas Msipa Trust Charity Shield to be played at Mandava Stadium.

FC PLATINUM and Shabanie Mine will rekindle their football rivalry tomorrow when the two Premiership sides clash in the Cephas Msipa Trust Charity Shield to be played at Mandava Stadium.

REPORTY BY EPHRAIM SHOKO

The trophy is sponsored by Kayzed (Pvt) Ltd and will see the winners walk away with $10 000 and the losers getting $5 000.

The match — which will be played under the theme Unite for Education — is aimed at raising funds for the trust that was founded last year with the purpose of assisting less privileged children in primary, secondary school and tertiary institutions pay school fees.

FC Platinum and Shabanie Mine have produced some fireworks in all the six encounters they have clashed so far since the former were promoted to the Premier Soccer League, and tomorrow’s duel promises nothing less.

The Moneybags have, however, enjoyed dominance over their bitter rivals, having beaten Shabanie twice in the league and once in the Mbada Diamonds Cup. Shabanie’s only victory against Kugona Kunenge Kudada was in the Mimosa Invitational Tourney while the other encounters ended in draws.

This match should provide the Chinda Boys with a platform to revenge against their bitter foes, albeit in a friendly manner as the organisers of the tourney have emphasised on unity between the two Zvishavane giants.

New Platinum coach Tennant Chilumba said he would be using the match to perfect the combinations he was working on since the team started their pre-season preparations.

The Zambian coach said although he would give a run to some youngsters in his team during the match, he was going to start with his strongest side as he seeks to build a formidable side.

“As you know, we are preparing for the forthcoming season so we will definitely field our strongest side. Of course, we shall throw in our youngsters here and there just to give them a run, but our main objective is to perfect our combinations in preparation for the new season,” he said.

Interestingly, this would be Chilumba’s first derby in the country, while the match will be the first for Shabanie coach Arnold Jani to be in charge of the team against their bitter foes.

Last season Jani was assistant to suspended Luke Masomere and was thrown into the deep end in the interim while his boss appeals against his ban.

The match will provide Jani, whose team started their season preparations rather late, with a chance to assess some of the new players he acquired, among them former Gunners midfielder Valentine Ndaba.

Both teams will parade relatively new sides from last season after Platinum offloaded 13 players at the start of the year, while Shabanie Mine lost seven players who were recalled by Platinum.

Among those recalled from Shabanie by Platinum at the end of last season were the reigning Premier Soccer League top goal-scorer Nelson Mazivisa.

It will be left to see if Mazivisa will continue with his goal-scoring prowess when he faces his former paymasters at Mandava tomorrow.