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Tsipa goes for gold

Sport
CAPS United striker, Leonard Tsipa (pictured), who like a fine wine seems to be getting better with age, has asserted himself as one of the most outstanding players in the 2016 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League season, is relishing the prospect of picking both the championship and the Golden Boot award.

CAPS United striker, Leonard Tsipa (pictured), who like a fine wine seems to be getting better with age, has asserted himself as one of the most outstanding players in the 2016 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League season, is relishing the prospect of picking both the championship and the Golden Boot award.

BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA

Leonard Tsipa
Leonard Tsipa

At 34, Tsipa has managed to continue wringing goals out of himself and is leading the race to finish the season with the highest number of goals.

More importantly, this season he has shown a knack for scoring important goals for Caps United, which has seen the Green Machine sustain a serious title challenge.

On Sunday, Tsipa scored as the Green Machine dismissed Border Strikers to shoot to the top of the log, with four matches remaining.

The Lloyd Chitembwe-coached side moved two points clear of FC Platinum, who now sit in second place, while third-placed Highlanders are a further point away.

With all his experience, Tsipa knows that this is the period, where they need to focus even more than before, and even though the Golden Boot is at the back of his mind, he will not lose sight of working for the team and not personal glory.

Caps United face Dynamos, Harare City, Ngezi Platinum and Chapungu in their final four fixtures and Tsipa appreciates the tough hurdles each of those teams present.

The target for Caps United, like their rivals FC Platinum and Highlanders, is a perfect record in the last four matches.

Unlike the other two teams, Caps United know that if they can come out tops in all those matches, they will win the league title.

The Big Harare Derby looms large on Sunday and it presents hazards for Caps United playing against a Dynamos side sitting in mid-table obscurity, with nothing to fight for save for pride, but Tsipa wants his side to ride on the confidence they have built from a good run, which has taken them to the top of the log.

“It’s good that we are at the top of the log at this stage. Our confidence keeps growing and the most important thing is for us to remain focused in the remaining fixtures,” he said. “We want to try and win all our remaining matches. That’s the target for us. We have the Harare derby against Dynamos on Sunday, but to us there is no difference from the other remaining fixtures. The only difference is that we are playing Dynamos first and our focus is on that match.

“We beat them this season for the first time, after many league encounters and they wouldn’t want to lose again. “It will not be easy, but we will try to collect maximum points. We need to keep winning and we must fight to the end.”

The sun seemed to have set on Tsipa’s career until he was recalled by Englishman, Mark Harrison last year and this term he has defied the odds.

He has scored 11 goals so far this season, two more than his closest rival for the Golden Boot, Hwange’s Gift Mbweti.

But Tsipa is putting the team success ahead of personal glory.

“Of course, I am targeting winning the Golden Boot Award. But the team comes first. I just want to give everything for the team in the remaining matches. It doesn’t matter if I don’t score, as long as the team wins. It’s the team that comes first.

“I have not really set a target of goals for myself; I just want to keep on scoring for the team. We want to keep on winning and, hopefully, I will also win the Golden Boot,” he said.