WELLINGTON TONI
BUFFALOES will not only be looking for three points, but at a huge pay day, when they engage Castle Lager Premier Soccer League leaders Highlanders at Sakubva Stadium tomorrow. With Highlanders unbeaten this season and featuring an array of stars, this should be a big pay day for the army side and should they manage to garner around 10 000 fans, then they should be able to clear some of the outstanding monies to the players. The star attractions at Bosso are poster boy Kuda Mahachi, who is on loan from South African champions Mamelodi Sundowns, but would soon be going for trials at French Ligue One side AS Monaco, Ajax Cape Town-bound Milton Ncube and young Ozias Zibande. Then there is the ginger-haired Welcome Ndiweni, an underrated workaholic, Joel Ngodzo and Charles Sibanda. Peter Moyo has had two brilliant seasons at Bosso, but personal distractions seem to be affecting his game, although he is still likely to move to Mpumalanga Black Aces next month. This alone, and the team’s mantra that they are the “national team”, makes them a must-see for the Mutare soccer lovers tomorrow. The 2006 champions have 16 points from eight matches after handing Harare City their seventh defeat of the season on Thursday and know any slip-up will allow How Mine and the rest of the teams in the chasing pack to play catch-up. Kelvin Kaindu’s Highlanders were not convincing against a struggling, but well-drilled Harare City on Thursday and needed some magic from Mahachi to steal the points with a 1-0 win and will be hard-pressed to up their game against the Luke Masomere-coached side that was hammered 5-1 by Triangle on Wednesday. The last time Highlanders were in Mutare, they managed a 1-1 draw after Gabriel Nyoni scored with the last kick of the match. Then Timothy Masachi was in charge, but now the self-proclaimed Doctor of Football, Masomere is the new commander. Masomere was not lucky against Bosso last season, losing 2-0 at home and 3-1 away when he was still in the charge of Shabanie, and needs to motivate his demoralised troops for this tough encounter. His camp is in disarray — there is no money for the players and travelling logistics are in a shambles as they only arrived at Gibbo on Wednesday at lunch. How Mine, who will miss the suspended Nyasha Mukumbi, have 16 points as well and are in Harare this afternoon for a date with the unbeaten side of veterans ZPC Kariba at Gwanzura Stadium. The match pits two of the best schemers in the land meet — ZPC’s Saul Chaminuka and Philani Ncube of How Mine. After a slow start to the season, How Mine have picked up a draw and five wins in a row to sit second on the standings and could provide ZPC with one of their toughest tests as yet. The main threat to ZPC’s unbeaten run is Kuda Musharu, who has scored 13 times in 12 games (league and Caf Confederation Cup), and was also on target on Wednesday for his seventh goal of the season as they dismissed Caps United 2-0 at Luveve. ZPC, who will be without Ephraim Mwinga and Obey Mwerahari due to suspensions, did well to pick a point at Black Rhinos in Rimuka.
