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NewsDay

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Can Caps cope under pressure?

Sport
AS Caps United host Tsholotsho at the National Sports Stadium bidding to sustain their Castle Lager Premier Soccer League championship push this afternoon, the spotlight has intensified on the Harare giants, who are under pressure to please demanding fans.

AS Caps United host Tsholotsho at the National Sports Stadium bidding to sustain their Castle Lager Premier Soccer League championship push this afternoon, the spotlight has intensified on the Harare giants, who are under pressure to please demanding fans.

BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA

Leonard-Tsipa

The Green Machine have had a good start in the campaign since Lloyd Chitembwe took over. An air of optimism swept across the green half of the capital following their good run in the championship race, where they sit third with 26 points in 13 starts, three behind leaders FC Platinum, who have a game in hand.

There is this strong belief among their fans now that this could be their year to reach the Promised Land for the first time since winning back-to-back league titles in 2004 and 2005.

And that belief is the reason why fans have refused to accept home draws against ZPC Kariba, Triangle and Hwange as positive results. With so much expected of them, Caps United have often struggled to play with freedom, particularly under the probing eyes of their fans, who want nothing other than the championship this season.

Not that they have been playing badly or that the results are a disaster. This is a team only three points adrift of log leaders FC Platinum, but some loud calls have been made for coach Chitembwe to step aside.

Today’s match against Tsholotsho is typically one of those games that fans consider winnable and, unlike the one against FC Platinum, a draw will be hard to stomach.

The inability to close matches they would have dominated has been Caps’s biggest undoing and strikers Dominic Chungwa, Simba Nhivi and Leonard Tsipa have failed to do justice to what the team creates.

And as Caps United face off against Tsholotsho, expectations are high that they will right their wrongs and maximise on home advantage, as the league marathon reaches the second half.

After recording two draws in their last three home matches, Caps United will view today’s match as one to recover from.

Assistant coach, Tostao Kwashi believes the stalemate away to FC Platinum will be one to draw confidence from ahead of today’s match, where they will be looking for a polished performance.

“Obvously it breeds confidence to draw against our rivals on top of the log. It was a great performance, they played well, they applied themselves tremendously and we hope to translate this into a more polished performance than we gave against FC Platinum in our match against Tsholotsho,” he said.

“We don’t subscribe to the notion that we are doing better away than at home, all I can say is that every match is different, whether at home or away. At the end of the day, these guys are professionals, they always give their all whether playing at home or away. While we feel we have done well so far, we still want to do more and we will remain humble. We haven’t won anything. We respect Tsholotsho, they are a tough team with a good coach. But we will give everything tomorrow.”

Tsholotsho, under the guidance of Lizwe Sweswe, are second from the bottom, with just eight points. They have lost their last four matches and drawn just one against How Mine and with those statistics, it’s anybody’s guess what the Caps fans will demand.

The Bulawayo-based side have so far managed just two wins from 13 matches, but both have been achieved away from home against Harare City and Bulawayo City.

They have lost four of their last five matches picking up a single point.