Ngezi gun for league tittle

By The Standard and Newsday | Feb. 15, 2022 | 3 Min read

Former Caps United defender Carlos Mavhurume leads the cast of those that have joined and also include striker Delic Murimba, who was snapped from Triangle and wingback Tapiwa Sibanda who joined from Cranborne Bullets.

BY HENRY MHARA IN NGEZI MHONDORO NGEZI Platinum Stars are using the disappointment of losing last year’s Chibuku Super Cup final to spur them to win some silverware this season.

The Mhondoro-Ngezi-based side lost a penalty shootout against their platinum cousins FC Platinum in a tournament that was used to curtain-raise the premier league campaign.

Club chief executive officer Nyasha Kadenge, speaking at their player unveiling ceremony yesterday, said they want to make up for that disappointment by winning the league title this season.

“Our project is exciting, we are hoping to get some silverware this year,” Kadenge said.

“Losing Chibuku was a disappointment and we are hoping to be in the title decider. We will be there (in the race for the title). We are gunning for the league, we do need some silverware, it’s been a while since we won something. We need to get our clients happy and winning silverware is good for our brand as well. We are growing, we are very ambitious so to show that we are serious we actually do need to win something.”

The club unveiled five new players which they are hoping can help them secure the league title.

But their biggest catch could be that of Last Jesi, who has returned from Sudan where he was playing for Al Hilal.

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Young Takunda Benhura has been promoted from the club’s developmental side, as a reward for his efficiency in front of goals where he scored six goals in the Zifa Northern Region Division One league this term.

“We have assembled a very strong team, so I would like to think the new players will get us over the finishing line,” Kadenge said.

The new arrivals are coming in to plug the holes that opened after the departure of a number of seasoned players.

Those that left Madamburo, as Ngezi Platinum Stars are known, at the end of the year are Devon Chafa who went to Caps United, Keith Murera who has joined Dynamos, Nigel Makumbe who has returned to FC Platinum and Nyasha Chintuli, who is reported to be on his way to Manica Diamonds.

Kadenge also gave an update on coach Rodwell Dhlakama, who was sent on forced leave last month.

“The coach is still on leave and very soon the changes will be announced, if there are any,” she said.

Club president Stanley Segula thinks his team has done well on the transfer market, and is now demanding results in the field of play.

“Ngezi Platinum Stars are not going to be just participants in the league. We are focussed on the prime prize. We are excited with the talent that we have scouted and we believe we are stronger than we were in the past seasons. We will battle for everything in 2022,” Segula said.

Interim coach Takesure Chiragwi, who has been elevated in the absence of Dhlakama, is hoping that the new players will gel as quickly as possible.

“We have assembled a very good squad and we are continuing with the same preparations for the games as before. I hope the new players are not here to add numbers but to add value to the team. We brought them to add value and the strengths that we need in some departments, so I feel we have become stronger,” he said.

Chiragwi’s first assignment as the man in charge of the team is a tough trip to his former club Caps United at the weekend where Ngezi will be looking to stretch their unbeaten record in the league this season.

In the three matches that Ngezi Platinum Stars played before the break to give way for the Africa Cup of Nations tournament, they won twice and drew once.