Green glory...as big 3 get in the zone

By Henry Mhara | Apr 3, 2023 | 4 Min read

CAPS United coach Lloyd Chitembwe

CAPS UNITED . . . . . . . . . (0)1

ZPC KARIBA . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0

ADRIAN Silla’s sensational strike on his debut for Caps United was enough to earn the Green Machine victory over ZPC Kariba, sending Lloyd Chitembwe-coached side up to second position on the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League table.

The midfielder, who come in at the start of the second half, received the ball on the edge of the box and sent his marker on a wild goose chase, before smashing a wonderful dipping shot into the top-right corner to break the deadlock on 80th minute of this exciting encounter played in front of an appreciative crowd at the National Sports Stadium (NSS).

But prior to Silla’s sublime volley, Caps United had survived two scares when Tino Chiunye and Melvin Mukiwa rattled Tonderai Mateyaunga's crossbar inside a minute on the hour mark.

Victory raised Caps United to second on the log standings with seven points after three matches, the same tally as log leaders Dynamos who enjoy a better goal difference with Highlanders in third.

ZPC Kariba, meanwhile, slipped down to ninth on the log table with four points, but the team’s performance in yesterday’s encounter will give coach Darlington Dodo a lot of encouragement going forward.

Chitembwe, who refused to admit that his side escaped by the skin of their teeth, was happy with his side’s performance and heaped praise on Silla’s goal.

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The dreadlocked attacking midfielder was making his first appearance for Caps United after joining from Highlanders at the start of the season.

“It was a difficult game, ZPC Kariba gave everything today and I'm also very impressed by the quality of football,” Chitembwe said.

“Both teams asserted themselves well in the match. They really wanted to play and I’m extremely happy from that viewpoint. I’m satisfied with the result, but there is still work to be done. We still need to work on a lot of things defensively and offensively.”

On the goal, he said: “There were a lot of things on that goal, the dribble was good. He had a good dribble before taking the goal. If you look at the trajectory of the shot and the precision... what a great goal to win a great match.”

Dodo felt his side was just unlucky after they dominated the second half, only to be denied twice by the cross bar. But he had appreciative words for the wonderful goal, a third classic goal witnessed at the NSS over the weekend.

“We gave a good account of ourselves. We played a good team as well. We knew it was not going to be easy,” Dodo said.

“We slept on duty, especially on the goal that we conceded. It was from a difficult position and angle. Our closing down was poor. Silla was given a lot of space, he took a gamble and managed to get a goal for his team which was very unfortunate for us. But he hit it so well, it was a good goal from an impossible angle. That was a surprise and even the goalkeeper was caught unaware but like I said our defender did not do well in terms of closing down. He gave him his back, and it was unfortunate.

“Caps dominated in the first half, but they dominated in their own half where they were knocking the ball around. We didn’t press them that much but in the second half we started pushing up and trying to put pressure on their defenders and that us when they started to make mistakes. That is when we had opportunities to get close to the goal, but unfortunately Lady Luck was not on our side. We could have buried one on two chances and I feel the crossbar also saved them.”

Caps United clearly came with a game plan, to get an early goal, and they almost achieved it only for William Manondo to head just over a cross from a point blank in the opening minutes.

The home side continued to dominate in the first stanza, but did not create any real chances.

The second half belonged to ZPC Kariba who played with much vigor. The midfield trio of Kudzanani Dhemere, Chiunye and Leeroy Murape caused all sorts of problems in the Caps United danger area, but also failed to create meaningful chances.

Caps United fans screamed for a penalty on 70th minute when Blessing Sarupinda tumbled inside the box, but the referee dismissed the protests and booked the midfielder instead for simulation.

With the exciting contest looking like it would end in an unfortunate draw, Silla rose to the occasion to give the game the goal that it desperately cried for... and sent Caps fans into dreamland.

Teams

Caps United: T Mateyaunga, G Murwira, I Zambezi, H Chapusha, K Madzongwe, D Chafa (J Ngodzo, 79'), B Sarupinda (L Mhangaira, 90'), R Chinyengetere, P Bamusi, C Rupiya (A Silla, 46'), W Manondo (P Musaka, 85')

ZPC Kariba: T Chilenga, K Madima, M Mukiwa, M Diro, B Mutukure, C Muleya (T Pio, 85'), T Chiunye (S Makawa, 82'), W Mhango, L Murape (F Shoko, 85'), K Dhemere, M Demera (E Feremba, 82')