AFTER a midweek of contrasting fortunes, Highlanders and Caps United do battle at Barbourfields Stadium tomorrow in a Castle Lager Premiership Match Day Six clash.
WELLINGTON TONI
The match will be broadcast live on Supersport 9 at 1500hrs.
On Thursday, Highlanders seemed destined for three points against Chicken Inn in a Bulawayo Derby before the “comeback kids” scored with virtually the last kick of the day to secure a 1-1 draw after goalkeeper Munyaradzi Diya had miscued a clearance.
At the National Sports Stadium, Caps United beat Triangle 2-1. But Diya has to quickly put away Thursday’s disappointment and know this happens in football and take it as a man against an obviously volatile BF crowd.
Diya has been the mainstay of Bosso in the last two seasons and capped it off with the Mbada Diamonds Cup glory on November 30 last year.
He is this season’s top scorer at Bosso with three goals and the sooner the fans accept that, the better.
In fact, the fans should be focusing on why the team’s strikers are not scoring instead of a simple mistake that any other goalkeeper or player in the world can make.
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Remember English Premiship side Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard’s miscue against Chelsea last weekend?
That is the way football is, and legend Pele could not have named it the beautiful game for no good reason.
Diya’s coach Kelvin Kaindu said his charges had lost concentration towards the end of the match and hopes for better returns against the Green Machine tomorrow.
And it is now up to the galaxy of the stars at the black and white army — Joel Ngodzo, who played his first game of the season against Chicken Inn, Charles Sibanda, Welcome Ndiweni, Valentine Ndaba, Kuda Mahachi, Milton Ncube, Peter Moyo and young Ozias Zibande — to rise above the draw and gun for maximum points.
Those maximum points will not come easy against Caps, who have their own stars in Malawian international Ishmael Thindwa, Moses Muchenje, Tapiwa Khumbuyani, Ronald Pfumbidzai and the bulldozing Dominic Chungwa to bank on.
Caps United coach Taurayi Mangwiro is of the opinion that after the win over Triangle, they have all the confidence going into the Battle of the Cities at Emagumeni.
In the last 10 encounters between the two sides, three draws have been played, while Caps have won three and Bosso have come out victors four times.
In 2009, the two giants drew 2-2 and 0-0 before Bosso won 1-0 the following season at Barbourfields while Caps took the honours in Harare with a convincing 3-1 win.
In 2010, Highlanders won 1-0 at home, but fell 3-1 in Harare, while 2012 was the most fruitful year for the Bulawayo giants as they romped to 1-0 and 2-0 victories home and away.
Last season, Caps fared much better and picked four points, winning 2-1 in Harare before a 0-0 draw in the City of Kings.
While statistics might not mean much in football today — ask Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola — they certainly give some psychological advantage to any host.
