BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA CAPS United coach Lloyd Chitembwe has hailed his youth brigade including Tatenda Makurumidze the scorer of one of the goals as the Harare football giants demolished WhaWha 6-0 in a one-sided match at the National Sports Stadium in Harare on Sunday.
Chitembwe threw in three teenagers including 18-year-old Makurumidze, who came in for Rodwell Chinyengetere and went on to score a superb diving header — the last goal in the rout — and their biggest victory in years. The Caps United gaffer also gave Thulani Nyamapfeka a run after coming in for Tawana Chikore, while Tichaona Macheka came in for Devon Chafa.
Veteran forward William Manondo netted a hat-trick with Chinyengetere scoring a brace.
The victory, their first full set of points in six matches, provided a convincing case of their title credentials.
And the Caps United coach was left impressed, especially by the way the teenagers he introduced imposed themselves on the opponents.
“There are a lot of people who grumble when we play experience. We are very fortunate to have these boys. They are all 18-year-olds. At some point in this match we had three 18-year-olds playing. That in itself gives us satisfaction there are things we are doing right when we also look at the other side of the age. So I am happy with the performance of the three young boys and for him (Makurumidze) to score his first goal was an icing on the cake. You can’t ask for anything more than that. It really feels good for his confidence going forward. It also makes the others within the system feel motivated considering their age mates are already making raves in the first team. There is reason for them to feel motivated and focused,” he said.
The Green Machine had a sluggish start to the campaign which saw them failing to register a win in five matches. They drew four of those matches before they suffered their heaviest defeat in years after they were annihilated 6-2 by Manica Diamonds.
Chitembwe, however, insisted the defeat in Mutare was a minor setback and that it brought a renewed vigour and motivation in the dressing room.
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The Caps United coach made several changes to the team that lost in Mutare with goalkeeper Simba Chinani being replaced by Tonderai Mateyaunga. Valentine Musarurwa, Thulani Joseph, Clive Augusto and Kenneth Bulaji were excluded from the starting line up.
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