BY FORTUNE MBELE ALL topflight football action will be at Mandava Stadium this afternoon as four clubs battle it out to make it to the first round of the Chibuku Super Cup to be played on the weekend of August 20-21 across the country.
The four unseeded sides in the tournament, are ZPC Kariba, Bulawayo City, Cranborne Bullets and WhaWha and they all travel to a neutral venue in Zvishavane for the challenge to book a berth in the first round of the competition.
ZPC Kariba will take on Bulawayo City and win will see them set up a meeting with Bulawayo Chiefs in the first round. They go into the game quite aware that the local authority side sent them to the cleaners in a 3-0 win in a league game in their last encounter at Barbourfields Stadium recently.
Bulawayo City could be a tough hurdle for the power utility side.
In the last five games, ZPC Kariba have only won once, drew twice and lost and their poor form has left them in the relegation battle.
Their counterparts Bulawayo City are also struggling in the league but coach Farai Tawachera is confident that they will prevail over ZPC Kariba.
“It is our wish that we go past this stage but we don’t know what is going to happen. We are preparing to go to Mandava to try and forge a result that will get us through to the first round. If you look at our last performances, we were on the right track. We played very well but the circumstances in which we lost the last game were a dent to the players. We have been trying to psyche them to go through that,” Tawachera said.
City have lost their last two games after winning three on the trot previously.
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Cranborne Bullets are also looking forward to shooting past WhaWha in the second game of the afternoon.
“It will not be easy but we have prepared well to make sure that we progress to the next stage. Everybody is ready to deliver. Only Moreblessing Mushangwe, who got injured in the game against Black Rhinos otherwise all the other guys are ready for selection for tomorrow’s (today) game,” Bullets coach Nesbert Saruchera said.
Despite anchoring the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League log, WhaWha can a brew a shocker on a good day and have shocked giants Highlanders and Chicken Inn along the way.
Coached by coach Luke Petros-Jukulile, the Gweru-based side lost 2-1 to Caps United in their last game, drew with Herentals, beat Highlanders, lost to Bulawayo City and beat Tenax.
They lost to Cranborne Bullets 3-2 in March.
The winner of the two faces Dynamos in the first round of the Chibuku Super Cup.
Fixtures
Today: ZPC Kariba v Bulawayo City (1pm), Cranborne Bullets v WhaWha (3pm)
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